Perhaps in Another Lifetime
by goddessHAX
Summary: When an unfortunate event ripped Sasuke's life away within Naruto's grasp, Itachi used the hidden powers of the sharingan to transport themselves to another world in order to save Sasuke, but what will happen was not what Itachi was expecting at all. Mystery surrounds Itachi's lies, Naruto's past, and Sasuke's search for the truth. Pairings: NaruSasu, ShisuIta, Pain(NagaYahi)xSasu
1. Prologue - Of What We Feared Most

A/N: Prologue Warning-** ONLY IN PROLOGUE** (Orochimaru x Sasuke): Extremely graphic sexual contents. BDSM, rape, gore, torture, emotional torment...

_**BUT! Please don't runaway just yet!**_

* If you feel like you cannot stomach contents of the warning, you can still get the story by reading the last 2000 or so words of the prologue (exactly 3/4 ways down) and be on top of the story without the graphicness (I went back to edit it so that it could be read in this manner). It's a long prologue because originally this was going to be a stand-alone fic with chapters, but I have condensed it to 8k+ words *o*;;

This chapter is the prologue to a longer NaruSasu(Main pairing) fic with a lot of Itachi and Sasuke brotherly love, angst, mystery, and twists. It is not a standard SasuNaru where their relationship will drive the plot, but rather, the plot drives their relationship. It will have a very unpredictable ending...

Other pairings include (con and/or non-con), but not limited to: SasuNaru (I use this interchangeably), ShisuItachi, ItaSasu, OroSasu, MadaraxItachi, Nagato & Yahiko x Sasuke, and secret spoiler pairings :)

This is my first fanfic! So please go easy on me! Anyways, enjoy~~~

- goddessHAX

* * *

_Tap tap tap tap tap…_

Desperate footsteps echoes like the beating of a drum as hurried feet raced down the underground labyrinth, Orochimaru's infamous hideout.

_Tick tock tick…_

The clock was ticking away at each second, not having slight a hint of ever slowing down. _It couldn't slow down even if you wanted it to._

After all, time waits for no one, and you were born running out of time.

* * *

_**Perhaps in Another Lifetime**_

**Prologue and ****Chapter 1**

**"Of What We Feared Most..."**

* * *

Warm breaths hit the cool underground air as the moisture rushed back to chill against their faces; tired faces and tired eyes that haven't had a good night sleep for a while. The heavy breath continued to shiver as they escaped their dry lips, lips that have been quivering with fear and anticipation - for days now, for years. How long was it? Yes,_ years_. 3 years. The last 3 years had passed by too slowly, each day waiting was in itself rewarding, because of the extra training, but at the same time agonizing…

_What is Sasuke doing now?_

Where is he…?

_I wonder if he's ok…._

Would he think about me as well?

_Is he safe?_

Why Sasuke?

These were the thoughts that ran through Naruto's head everyday ever since Sasuke deserted the Leaf on that fateful day. At first, they were just after-thoughts, then every night, the voices will accuse him again and again for not having enough power to bring Sasuke back. He trained harder, for his own sake and for Sasuke's sake. To save his… best friend.

_That's what they are. Best friends… right?_

He blamed himself for everything. Every night he blamed and every night he questioned himself.

Tsunade, the newly appointed fifth hokage had said that the "pervert Orochimaru" wanted Sasuke's young body for himself. _What does that even mean?_ That eerie feeling in the pits of his stomach had never let up.

Feet that has been chasing for days, still hung on to the last of their hope, continuing to move along the cold ground.

_Tap tap tap…_

It was so close, they can practically feel Sasuke. They were so damn close. There will be no turning around today. The trio, Naruto, Sakura, and Sai, was going to bring Sasuke back today. _Today_. Not any _more _other days. This fucked up waiting game has got to stop.

"Naruto," Sakura stopped in her tracks to catch her breath, "I… feel Sasuke's chakra. This was familiar. It's him; I know it's him." With one hand on her knees panting, she wiped the sweat on her large forehead away with the other.

"My rats found something…" Sai looked to the right and then to the left. "He's this way" He ran off, going ahead first and signaling for the others to follow behind him.

Naruto couldn't speak. He would usually be the first to speak his mind, but he did not have the will power to speak aloud this time. He wanted so badly to tell his team mates that he didn't feel right. Something, just _something_, did not feel right at all. Call it a hunch if you might, he couldn't "warn" his teammates. What good will it do? Telling them that danger was ahead? _That's silly._

They signed up knowing danger was ahead.

They signed up knowing time is… _has_ been running out.

"This door!" Sai arrived at the front of a large iron door. He slowed down just enough to stop short of bursting through the door. He leaned in to listen. "Sasuke is inside. What is the plan of action?"

"We go in, rescue Sasuke, and kill Orochimaru." Naruto walked straight up the door and pushed right in, not the best plan of action nor was it discreet, but it was Naruto, and there was no arguing with him when it comes to rescuing Sasuke. Perhaps in another life, he will definitely not have been a ninja. He was best suited not to be a ninja (a ninja's job being discreet and all). They can only follow behind him, and maybe clean up after his mess, again, if probable. "Sasuke!"

The room was dark saved for the few candles that lit up the musky room. Taking perhaps the world's longest couple of seconds to adjust to the darkness of the room, they finally could clearly see their surroundings, and it was not the most optimistic sight. Weighting on the worn-out leather straps dangled from the ceiling was Sasuke. And he was striped completely of his clothes.

"Sasuke!" Screaming his name once again had caught his attention. His head jolted up in response to his name, but turned his head away as if it was to avoid their gazes burning into his naked body. He couldn't see them, but he felt ashamed, as the Sharingan Sealing Scroll was wrapped around his eyes to prevent him from using it against Orochimaru. The man took all the necessary precautions.

He couldn't face his old teammates now that he was like… this…

Sasuke's hands were bound by the straps that held him up at the ceiling, and two more sets of straps held his thighs up independently. Various cut and bruises were on his body and a pool of blood gathered on floor right below him. This was not good. Naruto knew it, but all the while he hope his hunch was dead wrong.

"Boys and girls from the Hidden Leave, long time no see." Someone that they previously did not noticed appeared from behind a dusty purple crushed-velvet curtain. It was that familiar snake charmer (monster, some called him), but his pace was slow and steady, unlike the beats of their hearts. "How do you like what I've done with Sasuke-kun? Isn't he beautiful? Who could have thought blood would look so good against his perfectly fair skin? Who would have thought…" He paused behind Sasuke and cupped his hands around the boy's face and licked the blood off where the curse seal was. "…he would taste so delectable." His lips curved up into a smirk that they are all too familiar with, "… _All _of him..." Bringing his cold hands from Sasuke's lower back to between his milky thighs, he wiped a slither of blood that was dripping down with his finger and licked it off with his long snake-like tongue, tasting it, indulging in it. He licked his lips, and sighed followed by an excited moan escaped from his lips. Sasuke's blood smeared against the corner of his mouth, as if it was taunting them to go forth to do something about it. "… if you know what I mean."

Sakura dropped to her knees. She thought she could handle it, but tears poured out for Sasuke. She was shaking.

_How could this be? If I only had stopped Sasuke back then, none of this would have…_

She doesn't want to look at Sasuke. She couldn't. Seeing him weak and controlled by that evil snake pervert… made her weak. She feared for her life._ If that happened to Sasuke and he was so strong, then…_ "S-sasuke…kun…"

Naruto just about had it. The white of his knuckle cannot turn any whiter from the clenching of his fists. He felt his skin boiled up to reveal a demon fox cloak with three tails, and he would gladly let the fiery chakra take over his body if it meant for payback. His eyes turned into a red shade of pure demon fox hatred. A tear escaped from his eyes that was quickly burned away by the heat emitting from the cloak. It was not out of fear or hopelessness. It was out of power. It was out of friendship. It was out of love and burned with passion. Seeing his friend hurt had only made him stronger.

_It's now or never, Uzumaki Naruto, that's me!_

He dashed head-on towards Orochimaru with all his power, only to be caught by a glass container with a special seal-like writing that fell on top of him. His head hit the glass and his demon cloak disappeared. "What.. What is this!?"

"Silly fox, I excavated the seal from the ruins of the Uzumaki village designed just to seal the demon fox and its powers. I prepared this just for you, Naruto-kun..." Just then another glass cage with another seal fell on top of Sai and Sakura, trapping them inside, "And this one will absorb your chakra and give them to me, for my body to… well, why don't I show you?"

The sannin reached up to Sasuke's neck and squeezed it, loving the melodic sound of Sasuke chocking.

"No… S-stop…" Sasuke chocked out between gasps. "Pleas-se… d-don't…"

"Why, because you're embarrassed that your friend will finally get to see me rape you?" He asked curiously, as if that wasn't the natural reaction. "Don't worry, Sasuke-kun. I'm not so heartless as to not let him feel you the way I felt you for these three years."

Orochimaru stomped on the ground once, two other seals were burned on the glass containers; the same seal also appeared on Orochimaru's back. "With this seal, your friend there will get to feel what I feel when I penetrate you." He drew circles on Sasuke's shoulder with his fingers. "They will know how good you feel. They will feel… _everything_." His long slimy tongue licked Sasuke's bruised cheek, the taste of his salty sweat lingered sweetly on his tongue, "but admit it, you wanted him to feel you like that..." A smirk played across his lips. "right?"

Orochimaru put his two thumbs between Sasuke's butt cheeks and roughly spread it open. Sasuke winced in pain. "Let's show your friends what a whore you've become." Rotating Sasuke around on the straps, his entrance was now spread open facing Team 7 leaving nothing to the imagination. Sakura screamed and covered her eyes. Orochimaru pulled his cheeks further apart revealing the pink abused anus with dried cum around its rim. The man's shaft was hard from seeing that beautiful sight. He groaned. Sai and Naruto were speechless. They knew if they had looked away, Orochimaru might use that opportunity to attack them. Someone had to protect Sakura_._ Naruto would protect Sakura with his life and keep her as innocent as possible, even sacrificing his own.

They really wanted to look away.

Sai and Naruto felt warm, their members rose to attention against their will. _Is this what Orochimaru was talking about? Feeling what he was feeling? The sick bastard!_

Pinching hard and spreading Sasuke's cheeks probably left some more bruises to the collection that was already there. Orochimaru lifted one hand in the air while coming down swiftly, slapped Sasuke across his bottom cheeks. Sasuke winced in pain and struggled, but he didn't cry. Sasuke always try his best not to show weakness. He hit Sasuke's bottom again with his hand until it turned even more pink from the contact.

Naruto and Sai's members only continued to get harder as Orochimaru assaulted Sasuke who was helplessly restrained to the straps. _How did Sasuke get like this? He was strong wasn't he?_ And now, their hands turn slightly pink as well. They felt the skin-on-skin impact and the way Sasuke's soft skin had felt under Orochimaru's hand. It was like as if they were there participating in it themselves. He felt sick.

Sai looked over at his hand, it felt sore. He squeezed the palm of his hand to try to overpower the feeling, but it wouldn't leave.

Orochimaru spread Sasuke's cheeks open again and insert three fingers in him, twisting his finger around his abused hole not caring if he was prepared for it or not. Sasuke bit his bottom lip to subdue his scream. He will not let this man hear him scream today. _He will try his best though..._ The man darted his fingers in and out of his hole until the rim broke, letting the old wounds reopen. Droplet of blood seeped from the crease of his tight ring.

Naruto looked down on his hand, his fingers were shaking, almost as if they are not under his control. He felt it. Sasuke's ring of muscle clamping down on his fingers. The wet and slickness of his tight hole. Naruto couldn't think. He felt it. He couldn't stop it. He felt helpless. He needed to save Sasuke, but his mind was clouded. He couldn't think. His body felt too hot and bothered to do something about it. He wanted his body to listen to him.

That time is now... but it was not happening.

Orochimaru grabbed one of Sasuke's ankles and lifted one of his legs up so it was no longer resting on the straps, Sasuke's half limp cock flopped once in front of the older man. "We can't have this, Sasuke-kun… How about- if I let you feel yourself too?" Closing his eyes for a second and opening them again, the same seal on Orochimaru's back burned onto Sasuke's back just like the way the glass cages were sealed. "You will now be able to feel the pleasure of me, fucking you." The pale gentleman lifted his cloak to reveal a large veiny cock, its pink head swelling and dripping with pre-cum in anticipation. Still holding one of Sasuke's legs in the air and facing him, he slammed into Sasuke's sweet fuck hole in one motion, burying the entire length of his cock in the cock whore.

Sasuke couldn't prepare himself for what he was feeling and screamed from the pain and the pleasure; the pleasure of feeling Orochimaru's abuse on his own body caused by the special seal.

Pulling back from Sasuke, he slammed back into his victim again with full force, groaning in pleasure at Sasuke's tight ass and young body every single time. A scream pour out from Sasuke's mouth again, unable to catch himself; saliva and blood escaped the corner of his mouth. Wanting to hear more of that beautiful sound, he slammed hard into the body again and again, faster and faster, harder and pounding, gripping and pounding. Orochimaru took a moment to glance over at his experimental subjects, Team 7.

Naruto collapsed to the floor and fell on his knees, both hands cupping his groin and trying not to let tears escape, but it felt so good. He felt so dirty, but Sasuke's ass really felt so _damn_ good. Naruto was a virgin and never in the remote parts of his mind would think this was what sex feels like (without really participating in it).

For years, he tried to convince himself to like Sakura. After all, what's not to like? She was a beautiful strong female, and she was right within reach, most of all, she cared for him and recognized him as her teammate. It was natural and it was a perfect fairytale story ending for the hero of the Hidden Leave. He had his dream all planned out. He will marry Sakura and become the Hokage and Sasuke will… _And Sasuke will be…_ And this is where his future planning always came to a halt.

What about Sasuke? For years, he also tried to deny any intense feelings related to Sasuke. He doesn't know what it was, but convinced himself it was merely of brotherly love. He remembered staying up all night, every night for a month, crying silently to himself after Sasuke had ran away to the Sound. He remembered fighting Sasuke at the waterfall. He remembered every single punch and every single technique, replaying in his mind over and over again what he could have done differently to win. He also remembered how Sasuke protected him and held him in his arms when enemy ninjas attacked from before. How come he couldn't think about Sakura in the same way?

In all of the shinobi and samurai countries, not only was same sex love forbidden and punishable by death or sealing, it happened very rarely and only among Missing Nins. Actually, that was the reason why some of them went missing in the first place._ Like Zabuza and Haku?_ Therefore, it never crossed his mind that his feelings for Sasuke could be… of _love_? Or was even as a possibility...

"Arr.. hmmmp..!" Naruto felt another wave of pleasure invade his body through his cock. He can feel Sasuke's passage becoming slicker and wetter with his own blood, yet remaining so _so_ tight. His hands cupped harder at his groin, helpless as he was overcame by this sickening sexual pleasure at the expense of his… friend. _  
_

Sai leaned against the wall and his knees grew weak as he slowly slit down from the glass wall, closing his eyes, he let his sweat drip down from his brow, trying his best to push this repulsive pleasure from out of himself. _I'm emotionless_. He kept telling himself that, but to no avail. _I'm emotionless_. Sai groaned as he felt an intense grip on his member tighten even more. The tightness pumped at his member languidly. _I don't feel. _He tried to be as silent as possible, but that had caught Sakura's attention.

Sakura uncovered her eyes and turned toward Sai, trying to avoid seeing Sasuke that was in front of her. Sai crawled over to Sakura's side quickly and covered her eyes with his shaking hands. "Sakura, cover your eyes please. I don't want you to see me… and to see Sasuke…"

"What's going on? I don't get it!" More tears fell from her eyes.

"For my sake, please cover and close your eyes. Don't open your eyes no matter what. Trust me, Sakura." Sai moved Sakura's hands over to cover her own face as he fell to the floor in a thump. "Do you trust me, Sakura-chan? Do you trust... us?" He felt like he was the one being raped and he couldn't control the way his body feels. He felt embarrassed to be in the presence of an innocent girl with a raging hard-on in his tight pants. He fell to the ground on his side, just like Naruto, cupping and pushing down on his member, trying desperately for it to calm down. That would have been effective if the feelings in his body were up to him though, but of course, it was up to Orochimaru's desires. All he could do was to control his breathing and to squeeze his eyes shut; trying very hard not to make a sound. He doesn't want Sakura to hear his sex moans. It was embarrassing enough for him as it was.

_Oh, so it's not affecting the kunoichi…_ Orochimaru thought to himself. This seal must only affect the user of the same sex. It's not like she's got a penis or anything, so… _hmmm…_

He continued his assault to Sasuke's entrance by turning him around and fucking him from the back, one hand chocking his neck. A new wave of unwanted pain and unwanted pleasure filled Sasuke's body. He felt like he could no longer hold on. His hope was dangling like a thread about to break. For all the times Orochimaru used him, this time has to be the most brutal. That son of a bitch probably saved it on purpose to show his friends.

"Naruto-kun," Orochimaru paused what he was doing and turned to speak to Naruto, who upon hearing his name looked up at Orochimaru with hatred in his eyes. "You don't hate me enough. I also have what I'm about to do in mind for you. You're familiar with shadow clones right? Well… I can also do this… Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Two more shadow clones of Orochimaru baring the same seal on his back appeared, one holding a kunai while the other stood aloft, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "We are going to make sure you boys enjoy the maximum pleasure one can get from this whore." Instead of chocking Sasuke now, he yanked Sasuke's hair back with his free hand. "You will scream and moan for me you little bitch." One of the clones took out a kunai and cut the straps tying Sasuke's hands up. He instantaneously fell forward, flipping over upside down, legs in the air, elbows hitting the ground, leather straps still holding his thighs up.

"Hmmp! W-what's happening?!" Sasuke tried to crawl away, reaching and feeling a solid floor, even knowing his thighs were still restrained. "L-let me go, you sick bastard!"

Orochimaru let his hardness dive into Sasuke's hole again while holding onto Sasuke's sides and fucking him. Sasuke tried desperately to crawl away, digging his nails into the ground in front of him.

Sasuke tried to rip the Seal of Shanringan off of his eyes but it was enforced with a special jutsu so it can only be removed by the user. One of Orochimaru's clones pulled Sasuke's head up by his hair and rammed his cock into the boy's mouth. "Chock on this, whore." The other clone came up next to Orochimaru and tried to stick his cock in Sasuke's entrance. "Damn, you're so tight Sasuke-kun. I will need to try harder." Taking his finger and sticking it in, he pulled Sasuke's ass hole wider to accommodate for the second cock to ram in.

Sasuke screamed and chocked on Orochimaru's clone's cock, uncontrollable tears started to fall from his eyes from the sudden invasion of pain. He whimpered some more as if it would do any good. His whole body was covered with sweat and wouldn't stop shaking. He could break down at any moment. _Crying is not breaking down._ Crying is not breaking down._ I'm not crying because I'm weak. It really… hurts._

Naruto and Sai both groaned at the same time as the second Orochimaru entered Sasuke. The things the shadow clones experienced had only raised the pleasure exponentially. No wonder Orochimaru said it was for Naruto. Naruto knew damn well that whatever shadow clones experienced, the user will also experienced, and the feeling only tripled. It was tightness that was purely mind blowing, mind fucking... mouth fucking, double cock fucking... _Oh, It felt so good._ He couldn't think straight. Sasuke's warm mouth, his tongue felt so slick and wonderful. Naruto was flushed and drenched in sweat, pleasure taking over every nerve in his muscles as he fell completely to the floor, weak from he invasion of pleasure. It was so wrong. Naruto hated this feeling but his body would not listen to him.

"Oh come on, Sasuke-kun. We tried this before already. Are you upset because there is not enough cock in you?" The Orochimaru clone that was in Sasuke's mouth pulled out of him and smirked. Sasuke spat on the floor. The third clone positioned himself at Sasuke's entrance wanting to be let in as well, but Sasuke was already stretched to his limit and was about to pass out. "Don't worry we can fix that." The clone took out the kunai again and aimed the sharp part at Sasuke's rim, with one swift movement he tear away at Sasuke's ring and made a cut. Sasuke cried out at the searing hot pain, but he was not afraid anymore, he was prepared to die. Sasuke's hole now has one cut on the side. The third clone laughed as he slammed into the cut side of the hole, the hole ripped further apart as more blood gushed out and bubbled at his entrance. Orochimaru and his two shadow clones slit in and out of Sasuke, pounding with all of their strength. Sasuke pain-filled scream echoed in the room, his sobs increased as he clawed at the floor until his finger tips turned bloody, etching bloody streaks on the floor.

Sai turned to his other side and groaned loudly, no longer able to control his moaning as the third cock entered Sasuke. It was so hot and so tight like he had never felt before. The blood rushing to his head was intense, for the first time in his life, he felt color on his cheeks. "Oh Sasuke…! Hmmph!" He gave into himself, unable to control the words that came out of his mouth. "Yes… no… no… stop, ughhh!" Twitching and whimpering from the pleasure as words fell out of his lips without his consent, "So… g-good…", never letting go of his painful groin that needed to be released badly. He felt terrible like he was in part in raping Sasuke, but it just felt, "...so…good…" Sai threw up.

"Sai… are you… ok? I'm scare, Sai." That brought Sai somewhat back to his sense. Sakura's tears did not cease to fall. She froze. She hate to feel helpless, but Sai said not to open her eyes and kept them covered and closed. She trusted her teammates' judgment, whatever it might be, "I'm scare, Naruto… Sasuke! Naruto! Sai! I'm scare!" She tried really hard to hang onto that hope that was beginning to fall apart, but all she could do was to call out to her teammates. Her tears burned with such an intensity that had her eyeballs boiled at the pressure of her tears squeezing out from her sockets.

"Sasuke-kun, when I'm done with you, maybe I'll try on your friend there? He looks tight as hell, and... more innocent than you?" Orochimaru licked the back on his thigh, "How many cocks do you think Naruto would like in him? Three? Four…? Five?" He laughed as he continued his rape as he thrust between each word spoken.

The pain ripping through Sasuke's body has reached its limits. Sasuke knew and had accepted his fate. Right now, with the last of his breath, he only wanted to save Naruto. Naruto was the light to his dark life. Ever since Itachi murdered their entire clan, he can feel nothing but hatred and darkness. Naruto… just something about him, rescued Sasuke from completely drowning in that endless abyss.

It wasn't too long after his entire family was murdered, he was sitting alone by the dock, just thinking of ending it all there. He could jump in, drown, never to feel this pain of having his bonds ripped away from him again. He had made up his mind to commit suicide at such a young age. He wanted nothing to do with the living world anymore. He just wanted to be with his mother… father, the friendly old lady that would always knit him ugly scarfs, and all the friendly Uchihas that lived in their village. The living world was painful enough as it was. Just when he had made up his mind, walking behind him was Naruto, just another kid from his class. He cannot resist insulting Naruto, so he did. Naruto insulted him back, but smiled back at him as he walked away. Naruto was the light that saved him from drowning that fateful day when he made up his mind to die. He felt like history was ironically repeating itself, Naruto will be saved today and he made up his mind to save Naruto even if he dies.

When did Sasuke started thinking about Naruto like this? _This feeling..._ He knew it was not brotherly love. The love he _had_ for Itachi was entirely different. Sasuke was concerned about revenge most of his life and cannot be bothered by anything else but that, but it doesn't mean that he couldn't feel, even if he wanted to or not. Sasuke cursed that he was driven by his feelings. He was too emotional even if he does not show it. His entire being was driven by his feelings. Nobody else but himself can see the intricate details he put into his revenge, his emotions driving him towards his goals. He never denied his feelings toward Naruto. He was clear-minded. It was definitely something, but he cannot categorize it, at least in words. Nobody knew, only Sasuke knew how deeply he felt. He doesn't have to talk about it. Nobody would've understood. Heck, Naruto would not have understood. He was clear of Naruto's feelings even when the dead-last-in-class hasn't got a clue on how to classify his feelings for Sasuke; guess there are perks being smarter and more observant. Ever since the first time they accidentally gave each other their first kiss, Sasuke had been thinking of the possibilities, the what-ifs and what-nots. He touched his lips sometimes to bring back the memories and would smirk at the thought of it.

Sasuke touched his lips again with bloody fingers, leaving a crimson mark on his broken lips. Yes, the kissed happened before. He smiled. He felt it because he was alive. He must protect Naruto.

With a final thrust buried deep within Sasuke's body, the three exploded their hot cum inside his body and he felt the hot liquid shooting inside of him in all directions. Sasuke, under the effects of the seal also emptied his load on the floor, mixing it with his own blood.

Sai knew what was about to happen and took out his dick from his pants. With a loud moan, he let cum shoot out to the ground beside him, away from Sakura. The head of his penis dripped with the last of his creamy cum, as the sweat that engulfed his entire body started to cool. He hoped Sakura never found out.

Naruto reached in his pants, he cannot hold back anymore and came hard in his own hands, warm slick cum dripping between his fingers and overflowing in loads into his pants. He took his shaking hands out and wiped it on the floor beside him. He felt disgusted that he actually got off on the feeling of brutally raping Sasuke. Trying the best to get back on his feet, he pressed his hands on the glass to look at Sasuke's barely moving body. His hot breath condensed against the cool glass.

The three pulled out of Sasuke and he was left hanging upside down by his thighs constrains. Ribbons of blood and cum flowed down from his abused entrance, covering his torso, rare, back… then shoulders.. then neck… then face… then hair. Yes, he was a whore. He felt like an abused used whore. A useless dirty whore that still with the last of his breath wanted to save Naruto… He wanted to make sure Orochimaru doesn't get his hands on Naruto, not now, not ever.

"Naruto…" He muttered, barely above a whisper. Naruto's eyes shot up at him. "There is always a weakness to every technique…"

Naruto finally came to his senses, he has an idea to escape and he needed Sakura. "Sakura, open your eyes!"

"Naruto! Are you ok?" She uncovered her eyes to discover a broken Uchiha hanging by his thighs. She screamed. Tears started flowing again. She hated being a girl. She wished these stupid tears would just go away.

"Sakura, Focus! Hurry and break the ground beneath you and if that doesn't work try hitting whatever. You have the most strength! Hit something until something breaks!"

Sakura wiped the last of her tears away and focused her chakra in her fist, hitting the ground in all directions. With just the right amount of strength and the right angle, she broke through the ground. The ground opened up and the vibration cracked their glass prisons.

"Yes!" The three proclaimed together in unison.

Orochimaru was caught off guard by this. He didn't expect his seal to be ineffective toward females. Sakura was the only one in the group with all her chakra and sanity intact. It was the right call by Sai for her to cover her eyes and to tell her to trust them. Sakura was no fool though, she knew what was happening by just hearing alone, but she felt her teammates spared her from seeing the trauma and their humiliation, and it was more than enough for her to have a clear head and save them all in the nick of time.

Ceasing the opportunity that Sasuke's been waiting for, he used the last of his chakra to form the handseals, "Chidori!" Blue lightning surrounded his hand, and as fast as he could possibly could, he cut into his own stomach with his chidori. Blood dripped down his elbow and splattered everywhere. There was not even a single thing surrounding Sasuke that could possibly pass for being any other color but red. "…There is always a weakness in every technique, and….. the reverse is also true… heh…" He smiled as his chidori slowly faded away. The others watched with their mouths opened. They looked at Orochimaru. Orochimaru looked down at his stomach, there was a big gaping, bleeding, hole. The clones turned into smoke and disappeared.

"W-well, I guess I should go attend to this before I really d-die. Haa…" Blood pooled around the man, he took a step, his feet was soaked in his own blood and growing weaker by the millisecond. "You Konoha brats got lucky today… Reverse Summoning Technique!" He formed a couple of handseals with shaking hands, a puff of smoke appeared, and when it dispersed, he was gone.

There was an air of silence between the shinobis. Their eyes turned towards Sasuke. The seal from Sasuke's back disappeared. Sasuke's body twitched...once.

"He's alive!" They rushed to his side. Sai cut the straps that was tying him up and was able to take the Seal of sharingan off of Sasuke's eyes because Orochimaru's current weakened state.

Sakura knelt beside him. She will not cry tears anymore. She must be the strong one now. It was time for her to save Sasuke. A blue glow emitted from her hands over the chidori wound. The bleeding stopped after a minute or two. "There is a lot of internal damage, hang on Sasuke." Sakura knew she had to be professional and deal with Sasuke's injuries, but it was just too much. She pounded her fist into the ground to stop her hands from shaking. "Naruto, turn Sasuke over."

"Sakura…" He put a hand over hers. "Stop shaking, I love you, so stop being afraid…" He was not lying to himself, he does love Sakura, as a teammate, as a friend, and as a sister, but… not that kind of love. "We need you right now to help Sasuke and you're the only one here that can do it. Believe in yourself…!"

Sakura nodded once and put her hand over Sasuke's rare. She spread it apart gently to look at the injuries. Sasuke was knocked out and was not complaining or moving. She should handle this the way she was taught. She cannot let other thoughts cloud her mind and her tears cloud her vision. She kept thinking that Sasuke probably didn't want her to look at him like this, but she was the only one here that can help him, embarrassing or not. Sasuke's blood and Orochimaru's cum coated the tip of her fingers and she gasped. She never actually had dealt with anything sex related before in person. She was only taught the how-to in an "as-if" situation by Tsunade. This was not something you see on the battlefield a lot.

"Ok, here it goes... Sorry Sasuke-kun…" Her index and middle finger glowed blue with healing chakra. She took no time to insert them into his anus, all the way back, hitting a dead end.

Sasuke's eyes flew open and screamed and tried to crawl away, but Sai and Naruto held him back. In his hazy mind, Sasuke thought it was Orochimaru again.

"I…I'm so sorry Sasuke-kun, bear with me. You will feel better soon I promise!" Sakura wiggled her fingers around to feel the extend of the damage. And it was bad.

Sasuke had stopped struggling as he passed out again.

She pulled her fingers out, this time, her hands were completely covered in the liquids from their aftermath.

"I can only stop the bleeding… I couldn't help him. It was too much." Sakura turned and walked away. Naruto pulled her back.

"No, you are going to heal Sasuke so that he's completely ok! You can do it, Sakura-chan!"

"No, Naruto, I'm sorry. Even with my extended skill set, this is the best I could do. The damage… It was too much. Sasuke is going to…going to... Just leave me alone, Naruto." Sakura sat on the floor looking at Sasuke with dead eyes. She could not cry.

"Well, Try! I won't let you go until you heal Sasuke! You are not allow to stop, do you understand me? We came all this way to save Sasuke and you are going to leave him to d- ?!" Sakura slapped Naruto across the face.

"Shut up! Do you think I didn't want to heal Sasuke? I love him and would want nothing then for him to be healthy and well again. Naruto, there is nothing I could do. I'm helpless! I don't have the skills to save him! I'm unworthy of being in his presence!"

"Well, what can we do?!"

"We can only bring him back for my master, Tsunade to look at. And… we have to hurry… This is Sasuke's only option right now."

* * *

It was a race against the sun.

As shinobis, you can only run; run away to survive, run away to live, run away to die, never ceasing; a race against the daylight, a race against life itself.

Sasuke's body felt light to Naruto even though he has been carrying him for the past 3 hours. Sai and Sakura continued on, never stopping to take a breather. Their hearts were heavy and their feet were tired.

As much pain as Sasuke was in, in the little consciousness that he had left, he felt Naruto's warmth through the spared clean clothes they put on him. His chest was pressed against Naruto's back, his arms were around Naruto's neck, and he felt safe at last. He knew if he die now, at least he would be in Naruto's grasp, smelling his scent, feeling the fox boy's dusty blond hair falling against his face. It felt nice, almost like it was from a dream. He coughed once, chocking from the blood that would leak into his mouth. Naruto noticed the tiny cough.

"I think we should stop for a couple of minutes to give Sasuke some water again." It was a good place to stop. They came upon a small hill with a single large tree overlooking a clearing and a sparkling river below. Sai went ahead to fetch water. Naruto put Sasuke down under the tree and placed his head on his lap. Sasuke was glad that Naruto didn't left him just to rest on the ground. He wanted Naruto to hold him forever. His wish might just come true soon. The sun was setting. It was clear now that they cannot make it back to Konoha before nightfall. A few birds flew by and landed in the tree above them, happily chirping away singing, not a care in the world.

A gentle breeze ruffled the greens beneath Sakura's feet. She took off her shoes and sat next to Sasuke, not saying a word. She had failed him, and this feeling of guilt will never leave her. She squeezed Sasuke's bloody hand in her own.

"I'm sorry Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun. I'll go with Sai to get water and gather supplies for the night. We can't give up. We couldn't give up just yet... We just needa find ways to survive." She put her shoes back on, "Please look after Sasuke while I'm gone. I'll be right back with some medicinal herbs to speed up the healing…" And with that she sprinted down the hill to catch up with Sai.

"Sasuke, they are going to find supplies. I'm going to stay here, with you. We'll be fine, you're safe…" Naruto looked straight into the sunset, not looking down at Sasuke. As much as he wanted to, he doesn't want Sasuke to see the tears that were welling up behind his eyes.

"Narut-to… I'm not going to make it…" Sasuke finally spoke. "I can't feel my legs..."

"Sasuke, shut up. Don't say that. Didn't you hear Sakura? You are going to get looked at by granny Tsunade, and she's going to heal you, and you will drink a lot of vitamin water, and you might stay in the hospital for a while, but you will eventually get out and learn all these new super jutsus and become waaaay stronger than me. You're going to get your revenge on Itachi. You're going to be a kickass jounin, marry Sakura and make her happy. Do you understand me?"

"Narut-to… what about my happiness…?" Sasuke tried his best to open his eyes to look at Naruto, the always happy, always smiles, silly fox boy that will always be dead last. "Look at me…"

Naruto did as Sasuke asked and looked him in the eyes. Tears already filled Naruto's eyes as they fell on Sasuke's cheeks. Sasuke was glad inside that he could still feel Naruto's tears on his face. "Sasuke, I don't want you to die. You must hang on. If you die… If you die…. I would be nothing… Nothing! Nothing in the world mattered… Sasuke…"

"N-naruto… I have a last wish…"

"No… no…no…! It will not be honored because you are not dying and it's not your last wish, stupid Sasuke, shut up you talk so much junk right now, this is not funny… Sasuke…!" Naruto cupped Sasuke's face in his hand, the other hand already holding the back of Sasuke's head, he felt colder than before.

Struggling to move, Sasuke's hand reached up to place over Naruto's hand that was over his face. Sasuke will cry for the last time. His tear fell from his eyes, tracing the curve of his face, the droplet reflecting the light from the sunset. His tears fell on their hands. Sasuke was beautiful.

Sasuke brought Naruto's hand over so that his finger-tips were resting over his lips. "H-how can I marry Sakura when all I only wanted to do was to kiss you?"

"S-sasuke…." Naruto's fingers traced Sasuke's lips. They were broken and chapped, but they were his lips. They were warm. Sasuke was still alive and that was all that mattered. "Why…? Sasuke… but I'm a boy... Did you hit your head…?" More tears streamed from Naruto's eyes that fell on Sasuke's face. He didn't know if he was happy or sad knowing how Sasuke felt about him. He only knew something was about to end, and he didn't want it to.

"S-stupid Naruto. Stop pretending… I saw through you before you did…." Sasuke tried his best to curve up a smile for Naruto to remember him by.

"Sasuke… why.. what…? But we can't…" He lowered his voice into a whisper only Sasuke could hear. "It's forbidden… We will indefinitely be murdered, personally, by everyone… this will never work out… Sasuke…" Naruto didn't care that he would die because of Sasuke, but for Sasuke's sake, not being with the guy with the demon fox inside would probably be a better plan. Sasuke's voice interjected his train of thoughts.

"Naruto… can you hold me and love me forever…" His voice got fainter and fainter. It was barely above a whisper, "…until I die? Nobody will judge us. N-nobody will know…"

"Sasuke… you know we can always runaway together… We can deface our forehead protectors and become Missing Nins. we could run away and be the unstoppable duo... nobody could get us… and I don't care if I die for you!" Tears covering Naruto's face he bent down to give Sasuke a kiss. Their first real kiss. So innocent and pure his feelings for Sasuke, all contained within those lips as they met covered with tears and the metallic taste of dried blood. Naruto licked Sasuke's tongue and lips, feverishly kissing him, sucking hard on his tongue, wanting Sasuke to feel loved even at his last moments. He pulled back to let both of them breath. "Just don't die…"

"Naruto… Perhaps in another lifetime… we could be together…" Sasuke's voice was like air escaping now. It was too soft to be heard clearly, "…and I would still love you…"

Sasuke's breathing slowed and then came to a complete stop. His eyes were still opened, beautiful, just looking up at the orange sun setting sky like nothing had happened. A smile frozen on Sasuke's lips as they were beginning to turn from pink to blue. A tear carefully made its way out of Sasuke's eye and dripped down to his chin. It held there and then it rolled down to the nape of his neck and disappeared.

Naruto brushed a thumb over Sasuke's lips. They were cold. "Sasuke?" No answer. Naruto wiped Sasuke's moist face with his thumb. He was not moving at all. "Sasuke!" Louder this time as he shook Sasuke's shoulder with both hands.

Sasuke's head fell backwards, hanging by his neck.

Naruto fell to the ground with Sasuke's body in a crushing hug. He held Sasuke's lifeless body hoping that he would jump up suddenly telling him that he was just kidding and everything would be fine. He squeezed Sasuke's body until he couldn't possibly get any closer. "Sasu... Sasuke!" But all he felt was Sasuke's body growing colder by the second until all the heat had left his skin. Naruto held him in cold sweat. His mind was clouded as he stopped believing everything around him was real as pain like this couldn't possibly exist in this world.

But the reality was that Sasuke was gone.

Sasuke's head rolled limply to the side.

Sasuke was dead.

Naruto screamed, crying into Sasuke's chest.

Suddenly without as much of a warning, a strong gust of wind picked up and the sky turned red, a pair of sharingan appeared in the sky. Leaves and debris blew around with a fury that wanted to escape the madness that was the power of the sharingan. "What's going on?!" He looked over at Sasuke, he was lifeless… then whose sharingan were those?

Sai and Sakura ran up the hill yelling at Naruto, pointing at the sky, but it was too noisy to hear clearly what they were screaming. Just then a voice echoed, surrounding them like the roar of a thunder. It was Itachi. Naruto knew that voice from anywhere.

"I would not let my little brother die…"

A flash of light consumed them and they were not on the hill anymore. They disappeared in front of Sai and Sakura, who were yelling and reaching for them.

Naruto and Sasuke were nowhere to be found. The sky turned calm and clear blue again. Birds were singing and perching up on the tree, just like before.

* * *

_**Perhaps in another lifetime…**_

_Tap tap tap tap tap…_

A blond hair boy tapped his fingers to the rhythm of the tune in his mp3 player. It was Japanese rock.

…_**we could be together.**_

_Tick tock tick…_

The train pulled to a full stop, and he quickly got off. He doesn't have time to waste; Naruto was late to meet his friends for ramen already.

_The clock is ticking away at each second, not having a hint of ever slowing down. It couldn't slow down even if you want it to._

At the corner of his eye, he saw a pale and handsome boy with dark hair about his age standing at the edge of the platform. He'd seen this look before. He knew what's going to happen, but nobody around seemed to notice or care.

_After all, time waits for no one, and you were born running out of time._

Without a second thought he reached out to grab that boy's shoulder to pull him back in right before the boy was going to jump and commit train suicide.

_**And I would still love you…**_

"Hey dude! Don't think dying will solve problems. A lot of people here in Japan have thought about that, you are not special!"

The dark-haired boy looked back at him with these sad and lonely eyes. He pushed Naruto's hand off of his shoulder and walked away towards the exit, cursing underneath his breath.

**Tokyo, Japan.**

**Shibuya Station.**

**Earth year 2013.**

* * *

_To be continued…_

* * *

Comments will be a fic writer's greatest gift! Please feed me and tell me what you think :3


	2. Dead Man Walking

**A/N**: This is NaruSasuNaru fic with other pairings on the side for the story. Main fic will contain plot revolving around Itachi, Sasuke, and Naruto. Nagato, Yahiko, and Madara will be plot bunnies that show up later on to give everyone a bad (or good? time). That's really all I can spoil for now :P

* * *

The musky smell of sex filled the air of the room. Even in its disheveled state, the room remained warm with the cascading sun setting light from outside the window. Everything in the room was flooded with an orange overtone, even his sweat. _His sweet sweat._ Trails of sweat rolled down his brow with each thrusting movement of his hips. His arched back was gleaming with sweat that embodied all the fractions of the sun's beam in each droplet. His arm muscles tensed up and flexed to reveal his perfectly toned arms with each thrust of his hips as he clutches the body beneath him closer and tighter, gripping ever-so-fiercely as his nails marked those creamy white thighs that he was burying himself between as his. And _only_ his. Taking Sasuke's chin into his free hand, he squeezed his jaw open and dripped his tongue into that warm mouth, licking his lips and sucking his tongue.

Sasuke moaned into his warm and rough touches, opening himself and letting the blonde's muscular frame to take him as his own. He thrust his hips up to meet the other's body as he slammed down on the Uchiha, making the impact hard and fast, burying his lover's meat deeper within his body with each movement of their sweat slick bodies.

The blonde dipped his head lower, licking , lapping up his sweat slicked skin, spending time and prolonging on kissing the huge gash that was on his lover's stomach.

He let go on Sasuke's thighs and turned him on his side while still being connected to him through their sex. He opened Sasuke's thighs up wider with his hand, lifting one knee over his own shoulder and finding a firm grip over Sasuke's other thigh around his waist with the other hand. Sasuke's ankle gripped around the blonde's back as he turned to face down, urgent fingers clawed at the moisten and messy bed sheet. Sasuke's back arch was beautiful, perfectly milky white skin; his ass in the air sideways, he waited desperately for him to continue his ministrations over the area that was starting to blush due to some rough handling.

The blonde pounded into his was-virgin lover again and again, his blue eyes half-lidded as he was trying his best to not cum all over right then. Unable to restrain himself, he gave into his primal instinct to fuck his Sasuke as hard as he could, moving the bed and banging the headboard hard against the wall, chipping off the paint in the corner. _His _Sasuke.

Not holding onto his pride, Sasuke moaned the blonde's name between ecstasy-filled cries. Knowing he was close, he grabbed his own erection with his hand and pumped it in rhythm to each of their thrusts. With a lust-filled cry that pierced through the humidity of the room, he came, squeezing his muscles tight around his lover's length. Feeling the sudden invasion of pressure, the blonde gave a few more hard thrusts before filling Sasuke's inside up with his hot, sticky cum while screaming his name in a silent cry.

The blonde fell on top of his partner's body, hot sweat mangled in between. Sasuke did not wait to push his tongue inside his boy's mouth, forcing his lips apart as he tasted his saliva.

He broke their kiss apart, a sticky string of saliva connected their mouths. Sasuke licked his own lips slowly, smirking, dark and mischievous eyes staring down at the bright blue orbs. The other wiped his mouth with his thumb. He smirked back.

Sasuke trailed down his neck with kisses. Pushing his partner on his back, Sasuke straddled his thighs as he reached up to flick his tongue over his sensitive nipples before heading south, bringing a satisfied moan from those pink parted lips. With each kiss, he sucked harder. Lifting a tanned, muscular leg over his shoulder he bent down to kiss and suck the innermost sensitive part of the blonde's thigh. Feeling the steady rising and falling of the blonde's chest as he was trying to catch his breath, Sasuke bit down hard on his inner thighs, drawing blood, marking that body as his own. "You're mine." The blond winced to the sudden pain; fascinated by the feeling of pain and lust, his arousal rising to attention once again with the promise of more pleasures that were yet to come. He put a hand under the blonde's knee that was already over his shoulder and lifted it higher, pulling his back half off the bed. Sasuke's pink tongue licked and sucked on the bloodied inner thigh until he left a red mark that was sure to turn blue and purple by tomorrow. In one smooth lick, his tongue traveled from his thigh to the back of his knee. "I'm gonna fuck you so hard."

The blonde gave an uncertain nod as Sasuke rammed his cock into his tight opening without hesitation…

With each hard thrust of his hips, his mind wandered to a memory that doesn't seem so long ago; Sasuke's first memory of this life that he's been growing quite accustomed to by now...

**...**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**Dead Man Walking**

* * *

Sasuke remembered there was this bright light, so bright that it was almost black because it was so blinding. He opened his eyes to a low hum of machinery and beeping that increased in speed and urgency with each struggled breath that he was trying to take. He felt like he was drowning under a thin layer of water, seeing and hearing everything that was obstructed, and _drowning_. He opened his mouth to breath but there was something that was blocking his airway. With a quivering hand, his fingers ghosted over a clear mask over his mouth. He tried to cough, but discovered that there was a tube down his throat. He fingered the strap elastic that was wrapped around his head and pulled the ventilator mask off.

A man with dark hair ran in through the door, shocked to see him, and squeeze him in a bone-crashing hug. The man cried tears into his shoulder, his long dark hair in a ponytail brushed across his nose making him want to sneeze. _Who is he? He smells nice though._

"Sasuke…S-Sasuke!" The man shook his shoulders, making him look straight into this man's dark, tired eyes, eyes that looked as if he hasn't been sleeping soundly for days. "Sasuke, don't leave me ever again!" The random man burrowed his face in Sasuke's shoulder again and cried tears that soaked through his shirt and made his shoulder wet.

Carefully, Sasuke pushed the man back away from him, not wanting to seem completely rude, he apologized, "sorry, but… w-who are you?"

As a matter of fact, he didn't even know who himself was.

_As a matter of fact,_ there were no previous memories.

Everything looked so foreign to him. Nothing came to mind- and nothing was familiar. He felt like a child, helpless, and didn't know what was going on. At the same time, he felt emptiness even though this nice man that said was his older brother put a coat on him and genuinely smiled at him. The nice man swung a bag over his shoulder as he held Sasuke's body up by the waist with the other. He was still having trouble walking, but he can leave the hospital now, they said.

The nice man tear up again and kissed Sasuke on his forehead. "Little brother, everything is going to be alright now. We are going home." Even though he did not know what was going on, he felt the man's warmth and he felt safe. The man shook his shoulder again to bring him out of his trance. Sasuke's eyes snapped to attention, looking at the dark orbs in front of him curiously. "Everything is going to be ok now…"

The bath was warm and it relaxed his muscles. Sasuke felt like he hasn't washed himself in a long time (which was probably true); he wanted to stay in the warm bath forever.

The man who introduced himself as Itachi and his older brother sat next to him outside the tub on a small plastic chair. He soaked a small towel in the tub and used it to scrub his little brother's back. "Does it feel good?" Itachi felt like he was talking to himself. Sasuke neither moved nor spoke; he just sat there looking at the wall tiles. He used the towel to squeeze some water over his little brother's head, washing away the shampoo, using the same towel, he wiped his face to get the shampoo and hair from covering his face. Sasuke just blinked. Itachi felt guilt welled up inside of him, seeing his brother in such a state. Dropping the towel in the tub, Itachi embraced Sasuke from the back and held him close. The Uchiha brothers sat like this for several minutes, delighted to finally hold his little brother in his arms again, but disappointed to know that he was only half there in his consciousness. "Sasuke, I'm so sorry for everything… everything that happened to you." He kissed his brother's cheek. He missed his little brother so much. The last time he ever hugged his little brother this intimately was before… _that_ happened… That's right. The memory was faint, but he definitely remembered everything- in this life _or the last_.

He remembered that night when he murdered the entire Uchiha clan… _He remembered walking ten steps behind an eight year old Sasuke who was running away from him crying and tripping over things on the ground. He lifted his sword and pointed towards his little brother, threatening to end his life right there, the crimson moon reflecting off the blade. Sasuke screamed as he fell over a dead body_. "I'm so very sorry, Sasuke…" He held his little brother in a tighter hug, "I'm…sorry…"

"Why are you sorry... I-Itachi... ?" Sasuke finally said a complete sentence to him. The whole day has been short 'yes', 'no', and short replies.

"I'm sorry that you don't remember me, silly Sasuke. Heh... " Smiling at his confused little brother.

"What happened to me?"

"Umm... We... I mean us, our family... we went to the beach, and…" He had to chose his words carefully, "... there was a radioactive contamination. Our parents were poisoned and passed away the same day. We got sick, but you got really sick and fell into a coma for six months…" Itachi lied. Sasuke frowned. He didn't even remember his parents. He remembered nothing. "I'm just glad you are back..."

"Where are… am I?"

"We live in a small town in a country called Japan... You are at home now... our apartment."

"And how old am I?"

"It's the year 2013. You are seventeen years old, Sasuke." Itachi got up from the plastic chair and grabbed a towel, "and you are supposed to be way too old to feel this relaxed about me washing you." Throwing a towel at Sasuke who caught it in mid air, "but if you need me I'll always be here. Now dry yourself."

With a sigh, Itachi flopped down on the bed face first. It's been a long day.

Sasuke enjoyed the warmth of another human being, even though he had no previous recollection of this man. Knowing his own name and age, and where he was brought him a small sense of being and satisfaction, but still, he felt alone in this world. He was with himself and his empty thoughts. The worst part was, he didn't even know what to think or was supposed to be thinking. He'd stood up now. Dark thoughts flooded his mind as each drop of water that dripped from his hair created a new ripple around his legs. The sound of each drop of water only gotten louder as the water slowly turned from clear to black, then to a blood-like crimson that materialized into hands that reached up to his bare thighs; tucking and pulling him under. The only thing that was audible was the sound of his heart beating steadily with each second that passed. Those hands pulled him down slowly into the tub without resistance until he was completely submerged in the crimson liquid except for his face. He opened his mouth, gasping for a final breathe of air; Sasuke tried to scream, but no sound came out.

He,

a shell with no memories,

was but a dead man walking.

* * *

_To be continued…_

* * *

A/N: Hi guys! Thx for reading the first real chapter to "Perhaps in Another Life Time"! I was writing the outline for this fic today and I planned out 20 chapters so far, so please look forward to the rest of it as I write them whenever I have the time ^-^ I apologize for the short sex scene that was incomplete! KYAAAA~ hahaHAHA! ^o^;; But it's ok, that was just a whatever teaser for what's going to come.


	3. Dumb-Fuck, Lucky Bastard

**Chapter 3**

**Dumb-Fuck, Lucky Bastard**

* * *

Sasuke winced suddenly, pulling in a sharp in-take of air.

Startled by the sudden jerk of his younger brother's body, Itachi woke up with a soft groan. Hours had passed had he accidentally fallen asleep on top of Sasuke's arm as he sat down in a worn down wooden chair next to him on the bed. Shuffling around looking for a light switch on the night stand, he finally found the cord to the lamp and pulled the rust covered chain, a few times, before it hummed and blinked on illuminating the apartment with its staled yellow flickering light. Taking a wet towel set aside on top a plastic bag on the night stand, he folded the towel neatly before exchanging the "fresh" towel with the used towel on top on Sasuke's forehead.

His brother's fever had gone down significantly within a few hours, but he was still above the average temperature. He must have stayed in the bath tub too long. Itachi felt a pang of guilt for not realizing that his little brother's body was perhaps still too weak to resume on normal activities.

Normal activities.

_What are the normal activities?_ Certainly nothing that this world can offer.

He can't even jump higher than a bush on a good day and have lost all abilities to mold chakra or to use of his sharingan. He cursed inwardly for being the one who was responsible for their current situation.

Sasuke stirred in his sleep. He was awaken by his brother's sturdy but soft hands wiping a cool towel across his forehead. Itachi dabbed the towel around Sasuke's nose and heated cheeks, also taking the time to lift his head to wipe the sweat off the back of his neck. Still feeling the after effect of his more than surreal nightmare, Sasuke slapped his brother's hand away. "Don't touch me…" He was dizzy with the blood red images from his nightmare. "…Please."

"I'm sorry for waking you up," he said softly, while ignoring his little brother's request, he dabbed the wet towel over the side of his face again to wipe away new sweat that formed. "Go back to sleep."

"I don't want to." Feared that he might not wake up again, "I don't want to sleep."

"Don't worry, it's just a fever. It will pass."

"What time is it?"

"It's the middle of the night, Sasuke, you should rest."

"Then why do you look ready to go out?" Sliding a quick glance towards Itachi's clothing, Sasuke focused his eyes on the ceiling again, "Are you going somewhere?"

Itachi nodded, getting up from his sitting position, "I'll be back soon, just rest."

As Itachi turned to leave, Sasuke caught the hem of his brother's shirt, tugging at the fabric, "Please don't go. I want you to stay."

"I'm sorry, Sasuke. I have something of importance to take care of. I promise I'll be back before the sunrise." Itachi smiled as Sasuke frowned. Walking closer to the bed, Itachi placed two fingers on Sasuke's forehead with a reassuring tap. "I promise I'll be back soon, and put a new towel on this."

()-()-()-()

Itachi did not come back in the morning, or the day after.

Doing the only thing Sasuke can do, he stayed in the house and ate whatever was left over in the fridge; not having a particularly big appetite, it was enough to suffice. He sat in front of the TV all day, watching, flipping channels, fascinated by everything about everything, at the same time, re-learning so much through commercials and TV shows. It was the only way to fill the loneliness and confusion. His only pillar, Itachi, the older brother he knew for a day was gone and nowhere to be found, nor did he wanted to go look for him. His body was still weak and he was comfortable in the soft bathrobe and pink fuzzy bunny slippers. He was sure his brother can take care of himself, but felt betrayed that he made a promise to him and then broke it so easily.

It was in the afternoon that Itachi finally made his appearance again. "I see that you've found the on-switch for the TV." Dropping down three large bags of groceries near the door, "can you help me with these, Sasuke?"

Sasuke stayed mostly quiet, but content that his brother was back. He also felt neglected. His brother did not ask about him.

Itachi wanted to try his hands on making curry, something that he found incredibly delicious that was not too hard to make. He was in charge of cutting up the vegetables while Sasuke was put in charge of washing them.

Sasuke was the first to break the silence between them. "Where were you?" He spoke as he scrubbed the vegetables from under the running faucet with a hard sponge.

"I was out buying groceries at the market."

"For two days?!" In anger, Sasuke threw the carrot he was washing into the sink, making a splash.

"Yes, for two days."

"Don't lie to me."

"I was also at the hospital paying your medical bills."

"For two days?"

"I'm a busy person." Raising his hands to chop down at the onion with a heavy knife, hard, he cut the ingredient in half, shaking the cutting board with its loud impact. He then began cutting it into smaller pieces, "we will have this conversation no more." Sasuke thought he saw tears welled up in Itachi eyes, as they turn puffy with redness. He thought about asking about it, but decided to give his brother some space. _Maybe it was the onions._

()-()-()-()

Day after long drawn out days, night after chilled unfulfilled nights, Itachi would leave after the clock strikes twelfth and only come back in the early afternoon, sometimes with food and other items. Sasuke inquired about his nightly disappearance, but would always receive vague answers "_It's my night job_", "_I just needed to get some air_", "_I like going out at night, ok?_"And day after day, the emptiness in Sasuke's heart would grow larger as the distance between him and Itachi's been stretched taunt, distance so long and heavy, almost having a weigh of its own. Watching TV was fine, but he wanted to feel. He wanted to feel what characters on daytime drama have felt, their anger, their anguish, their happiness, and their drama. Even though he has someone, he felt he was alone; a darkness that would come to haunt him at night when it was the most quiet, after Itachi leaves.

Sometimes Sasuke would see those bloody hands again, materializing from the shadows behind his closet, reaching up to grab and pull him from his bed. Sometimes, those hands would turn into an image of a blood red moon. Sometimes, the imagery was so realistic that he could even smell blood; blood from the pile of dead bodies that scattered among his room in translucent shadows.

Itachi finally brought him to a doctor for his frustration, who told them it was nothing but a temporary brain ailment that with time will heal. Sasuke bit down hard on his lips drawing blood. He wanted it to end.

()-()-()-()

"Please don't go Itachi. I don't think I can stand this anymore." Sasuke blocked the front door with his arms outstretched, a serious look plastered across his face. His gaze moved from staring into Itachi's eyes down to his clothes. His brother was dressed in tight black jeans, and an open button white shirt with a mesh shirt peeking underneath, the set all complimenting well with his dusty blue jean jacket that was slung over his shoulder; his three-hoop necklace matched well with his outfit like the plump icing on a birthday cake. "If you go, take me with you."

Walking up to reach for the doorknob behind Sasuke, Sasuke moved towards the knob still with his hands arms outstretched, blocking Itachi from leaving. "No." He pushed Sasuke aside with a firm shove, reaching for the doorknob with a swift twist of the handle, he cracked it open, a gust of cool air rushed into their home to temporarily relief the apartment of the tension.

"It's lonely. You don't know how I feel." Sasuke found his foothold, leaning against the wall. "It's driving me insane… this feeling of emptiness." Itachi stopped. Sasuke elbowed the door close; the fresh air flow was cut off again, leaving only the warmth of the heater humming in the background. "I need to leave this place." Sasuke stepped forward threateningly in the direction of his brother and grabbed hard at the front of his shirt, pulling him close and down so that their dark eyes could meet. "I want to leave here." With a startling jerk of his wrist, Sasuke slammed his older and taller brother against the wall in a loud smack, marveled by his little brother's recuperated strength as the action caught him by surprise. "I feel like I'm going insane." But nothing could have prepared Itachi for what happened next. Sasuke pressed his lips against his brother's, prying his lips open to stick his tongue in, sucking at his warm carven of a mouth. Itachi's eyes flew open at the realization of what happened to immediately shoving Sasuke off of himself, but not before landing a resisting punch right against Sasuke's face.

"The fuck?!" He spat on their carpeted floor, trying to get the taste of Sasuke's saliva out of his mouth. Itachi scrambled to his feet and made a dash out the door, slamming it shut as he ran down the street, not looking back. He felt panic and sick to his stomach that he just tasted his little brother's tongue. That he had just been forced upon by his little brother's insanity. He shivered from the thought of it. He felt bad for hitting his brother, but there were just some things you can't help. Sometimes, you will even need to go as far as to hit your mentally sick and depressed little brother, even knowing his condition. Sometimes, you only had one choice given the situation. He sat on a park bench to catch his breath with a trembling hand covering his eyes.

Sasuke sank to the floor, he felt weak in his knees. _Why did he just do that?_ He held the side of his face that Itachi punched. It burned his skin. He felt like holding his own knees for a while into a tight hug. He needed a hug today, and nobody was there to give it to him. Sasuke held himself while sitting by the door as silent tears pour out; his fuzzy pink bunny slippers moist with his own tears.

He fell asleep by the door. It must have been passed noon did Itachi made his appearance again, waking Sasuke up as he entered stridently through the front door. Sasuke rubbed his sore eyes, realizing that he must have fallen asleep by the door for the entire night. Itachi nudged Sasuke's foot with his own, "hey, wake up. Pack your bags, we are leaving."

"What?", rubbing his eyes from waking up from his surprisingly peaceful sleep.

Itachi dropped a heavy black duffle bag by the door with a loud thump as he kicked off his sneakers. "We are leaving this town today."

Trying to make sense and focus at the same time, his eyes wandered upon Itachi's face. His brother's face was turn to the side from Sasuke as he packed his necessities into another bag in a hurried manner. _His face._

His brother's cheeks were swollen, and upon further inspection, his right eye was also blackened, his lips torn and broken. Looking further down, his brother's white shirt was stained with patches of blood and there was a gash running across his back where the shirt was torn, along his arms several cuts were visible. His hair was greasy and a mess, no-

"Itachi… your hair…" Instead of his usual long hair tied into a clean ponytail, it was jagged and chopped, shorter, the same length as his own.

"I got a haircut." Shooting his little brother nothing but a snotty reply.

"What? With a weed whacker?!"

"Sasuke, we need to leave soon. No more questions please…"

"No, I'm not leaving until you tell me what the_ fuck_ you've been doing to look like… to look like this!"

"Sasuke, I said no more questions!" Itachi turned to face Sasuke, tears had already been streaming down his face as he was packing his own things. Sasuke stepped forward with uncertainty as to how his brother would feel when he put a hand on his brother shoulder in a loving manner. Itachi returned the gesture by putting a hand over Sasuke's.

Sasuke finished packing all his stuff (which was basically nothing but one set of clothes and some undergarments) before his brother even stepped out of the shower. Curious, he wondered what was in that heavy bag.

Holding up a razor, Itachi wiped the mirror to clear it of its fog with the other hand as he carefully trimmed his hair and bangs until they appear to be even. He looked more like his little brother than his old self now. He took no less than a minute to wash his gashes and wounds. It didn't hurt. When he was in the ANBU, the aftermath of S-rank missions and where he got injured were more serious than this. What really hurt was what _happened_. He clutched his heart and squeezed his flesh above it, his fingernails leaving red marks on his pale marbled skin. Physical pain does help to ease pain in other areas. _Fuck_, he hate feeling so _damn_ weak.

Sasuke unzipped the bag his brother dropped by the door and look inside. _Money._ It was just wads after wads of cash. He gasped. And on top of those money was shiny new gun. He picked up the gun turning it from side to side with fascination as it reflects the light in such an iridescent manner. Gripping the gun on its handle, he traced over the barrel with his thumb.

"Sasuke, you shouldn't look at my stuff without my permission."

Startled, Sasuke dropped the gun in the open bag. Looking back at his brother who crossed his arms across his naked chest, body still dripping with water and towel wrapped around his waist, he stood up. "What the hell is this? Can you explain _this _money? _This_ gun? Can you explain_ anything_?"

Heaving a sign, Itachi grabbed Sasuke's arms with two firm grasps of his palms. He knelt down, bringing Sasuke down with him until he too was kneeling on the carpet. "You said you wanted to leave here, didn't you?" His concerned was only communicated in the nervous grasp of his hands and the quivering darting of his dark eyes.

Nothing was spoken after that, no explanation was offered nor words exchanged, and Sasuke didn't pressed Itachi on what happened again as he let his older brother cry tears into his shoulder.

()-()-()-()

They left in a hurry to catch the 5 o'clock bullet train bound for Tokyo. Very few words were exchanged between the brothers on the train and it was fine. There were entirely too much crying done in the past 12 hours and they were both sick of it.

Sasuke felt like a burden.

He glanced over at Itachi, his loving brother that has been taking care of him and now because of what Sasuke wanted he was physically harmed. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he turned to look out the window. Everything was moving so quickly as the train move from scenery to scenery; the rhythmic roaring of the wind hitting the windows of the train was steady and predictable. As the sun goes down from behind the hills, he felt like the night has arrived once again to consume him. When can he escape from this invisible darkness that has come to chase him in his mind again? Maybe he will never escape from it. And Itachi, his dear brother, will continue to suffer because of Sasuke's own personal selfish desires. He looked over to the black duffle bag that Itachi clutched tightly to his chest, recalling the contents that were inside and whatever decision his brother might have made to obtain that for his sake. Sasuke decided that he was doing the world no good. He might as well end it all.

It was not their destination, but Sasuke ran out the train door without alerting his sleeping brother. He wanted to leave him like that, just disappear. He planned his escape and made up his mind to do so. With slow steps, he walked towards the unregulated train platform, inching closer and closer to the edge. He looked over the tracks. He counted mentally. It was at least an eight feet drop. There was an announcement in the speakers that a train was approaching the station. He stepped closer to the edge, the toes of his sneakers balancing off the side of the platform. He was ready for it. It will be quick and fast with no pain-for_ everyone_. The train was approaching fast. He closed his eyes and stepped forward.

Someone caught his shoulder and pulled him back violently. "Hey dude! Don't think dying will solve problems. A lot of people here in Japan have thought about that, you are not special!"

A blonde young man around his own age with an annoyed pair of blue eyes connected with his own, piercing into his soul and triggered a part of him that has never been irritated so much as he was now. How _dare_ this person stop him from making things better? What gave him the_ right _to not let Sasuke end _his _own life?!

Aggravated with this person's sad attempts to stop him, he tossed his hand away from his shoulder, cursing as he walked away towards the exit. "Stupid dumb-fuck…"

The blonde made a disgusting face and stuck out his tongue towards Sasuke who has been walking away from him, "ungrateful lucky bastard!"

()-()-()-()

* * *

_… to be Continued._

:P

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the long intro with hardly any Naruto-kun T_T (at least I had the lemon teaser last chapter to make up for it right?!). The story has a huge plot that I need to build up and I'm slowly getting to the NaruSasuNaruSasuNaruSasu… parts *o*


	4. Is Worth A Thousand Words

**A/N**: I only just saw "Road to Ninja" like right now, and I'm both amused and pissed at the same time that they almost had the same idea as me for some elements of this fic. I assure you though, that it will in no way be like the movie at all. *sigh*

I also updated the fiction category from 'Supernatural' to 'Mystery'. Hurt/Comfort stays the same. I also want to add "Drama" to the slot, but I can only pick 2...boo~~

Anyways some Japanese vocab for ya in this chapter:

_Naruto_ are also those swirly fishcake things in ramen

_Chashu_ is the delicious pork that will be a crime if you don't add them to your ramen next time, shame on you!

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**Is Worth a Thousand Words**

* * *

"Sasuke!"

It was definitely Itachi's voice. Sauske sped up his walking. He didn't stop even when all the pedestrians stopped their feet on the platform at the red light. Everybody stopped to watch as this unpleasant young man marched out into the open traffic into the biggest and busiest intersection of the district. They gasped as the cars honked at him. Embarrassed by the on-lookers, he made a ran for it.

The bags were heavy and it wasn't an easy task to chase after his brother with hands full of luggage. Itachi caught Sasuke's shoulder as Sasuke was turning a corner. He was exhausted from chasing after Sasuke at the train station and panted heavily as he gripped his brother's shoulder tighter. "Sasuke!"

"What? Just leave me alone!" Sauske tried to push Itachi's hand away. Itachi dropped the other bags on the floor to grab Sasuke's other shoulder as he slammed Sasuke to the wall. Sasuke winced at the sudden impact. Itachi lean in closer until Sasuke could feel his breath on the tip of his nose.

"You accidentally kicked my foot and woke me up."

"What?"

"On the train, before you made your little-" Itachi drew circles with his finger in the air "-escape. Listen to me, and listen to what I say carefully." He took a deep breath. "I love you, Sasuke. I worked very hard so we can survive. I even had to take on jobs… and do things I'm not proud of. Don't shame my efforts."

Sasuke seemed to have calmed down after they stayed like that for a minute without speaking a word to each other. Sasuke refused to look his older brother in the eye, but kept his gaze to the ground. "And what kinda jobs?"

"Labor. Miscellaneous labor intensive jobs, like fixing stuff... like bicycles ya know?" Itachi let go of his shoulders and wiped a sweat off of his brow. "Don't ask me, it's too much to explain." Itachi had kept a straight face.

"Why won't you tell me the truth?!" Sasuke sank down against the wall as he slid down into a squat. Itachi followed by lowering himself down facing Sasuke, also in a squat. Sasuke clutched his sweaty bangs and squeezed his eyes shut as he thought about all that that had happened. Just nothing made sense. "I know you are lying to me. You have been lying to me. So, great, I lost my memories and you suddenly think I'm stupid or something." He felt tears threatening to fall. He had no where to escape, why wouldn't Itachi just let him escape?

"I will say it as many times as you will like. I'm sorry Sasuke, for just, everything…" Itachi reached out his two fingers, ready to tap Sasuke on his forehead when Sasuke flung his hand away. He pushed forth, holding Sasuke's chin in his hand. "I love you, Sasuke." He bend forward to kiss Sasuke on his cheek and ruffled his hair. "I'm sorry for... Everything..."

"I'm not your pet, Itachi." He pushed Itachi's hand away from his face.

Joyful squealing surrounded the boys. They looked around them, and unbeknownst to them, a group of four to six girls in mini-skirts (even though it was winter already) had surrounded them like they are watching a daytime drama unfold. They were enthralled by the two handsome boys arguing and being too close to each other. They had been whispering and placing bets with each other as to which one was the 'top' and which one was the 'bottom'. They all cheered when Sasuke reaffirmed their perversions.

"Aah, no I mean…" Itachi got up from when he was crouching, understanding their situation. The girls' eyes lit up as if they were seeing for the first time. "He's my little brother, you sic-"

The girls cheered even louder and squealed and hugged each other. Itachi could hear them whispered to each other how 'hot' that 'sex' must've been for them.

He sighed and kneaded the space between his furrowed brows. There were still a lot Itachi need to learn in this world. In the meantime, he could only keep calm and lie his way through until he get caught, and lie some more. That was the master plan. _Great._

If he was only back in their world, he would have been able to sense the girls as they were being surrounded, and could have avoided the whole thing, even if it was miles away.

_Also_, he could have just killed them if he so much as wished hard enough for it.

Seeing the opportunity to runaway again while Itachi was occupied with the girls, Sasuke got up and tried to leave before collapsing on the floor on his weak knees. His stomach growling loudly.

Itachi sighed and reached out his hand towards Sasuke. "Come on, let's go get some food."

()-()-()-()

They found a ramen-house not too far from the station, behind the more popular shopping districts next to those infamous blow-job clubs that looked quite normal on the outside, but not on the inside. They sat down and ate their food peacefully when a sudden outburst of laughter caught them in mid-swallowing. Sasuke lifted his eyes to see what the commotion was and found that the loud noise was originated from the same guy who'd _"rescued"_ him from earlier. He was with two other guys about his age, one with brown hair tied in an up-ponytail, a mesh shirt with a brown leather jacket, and the other one was a big kid with his hair dyed orange and a long green trench coat. They all looked drunk, but the two of them were less drunk than the_ guy_ from earlier today because they were holding _him_ up trying to calm _him_ down.

"Ramen, ramen, ramen! I love ramen, ha ha ha!" The two guys sat the noisy blond in a chair and ordered some green tea for their friend.

"Naruto, be quiet! We are in a restaurant now!" The three garnered strange looks from the patrons of the store. Some even ordered their checks with to-go boxes.

"I want my ramen now! Miso ramen with naruto of course! Chashu chashu chashu~~~!" He managed to belch out his order in his drunken state while raising his fist in the air. The two less-drunken friends tried to sit him down with no avail. "Chasu~~! Hahaha!"

"Naruto, calm yourself! You are embarrassing us!" The big one pushed him down on the stool while bowing and apologizing to all the people in the store who stared at them in distaste. Naruto ignored his obviously concerned buddies to put his feet up on the table and lit the cigarette in his mouth.

Sasuke watched with amusement._ So his name is Naruto, huh. _He noticed Naruto and his friends' clothes. They were fashionable but definitely different from most people he saw in Tokyo so far. He worn a leather collar with spikes and have various dangling silver crosses as earrings and necklace, tight black pants and a form-fitting cut-up black t-shirt, and tall black boots, but most obvious of all were that they all worn some sort of eye make-up. Eyeliner, he remembered from those commercials. Naruto had on sparkly orange eyeshadow with eyeliner. He gave a small chuckle as the three were kicked out of the store by the owner.

Naruto did not go unnoticed by Itachi. He saw the noisy blond and his friends as they enter and exit the store out of the corner of his eye, but did not comment on it. It will be less complicated for his position if Sasuke never found out, but Sasuke's amusement with Naruto did not escape Itachi's discern.

()-()-()-()

The ride to their new home was mostly in silence. The taxi driver accepted the few large bills dug out from Itachi's duffle bag with sharp bows and wide thankful eyes, muttering many thanks as they slammed the door to walk to their destination. It was 2am when they'd finally arrived at the outskirts of Tokyo, a bit away from the city.

They arrived at the front of a gate, the door to their estate. Sasuke helped his brother carry all their luggage as Itachi ran ahead to open the door with a paper clip. It took a few tries, but he finally got it to open.

It was not just an estate, but a mansion. Sasuke hung his mouth open in awe. The driveway leading up to the house was a long and steep climb to the top; Itachi helped him with the bags. When they finally reached another gate, the real gate to the house this time, Itachi picked the lock with the same paper clip again. "I forgot the keys." Itachi explained, hoping Sasuke would accepted it as much.

Sasuke slowly took in his surroundings as Itachi turned on the lights. It was a two-storied traditional style Japanese house with wooden floors and tatami mats, sliding door, and a small koi pond that Sasuke discovered upon almost falling into it in the dark. It was a house with two floors and many rooms, there must have been at least five just counting it at the first glance. It seemed peaceful and lived-in. The place was well-furnished like the family just moved out suddenly without taking anything with them, but most importantly of all were the pictures on the wall. Sasuke found himself staring at a particular picture. Itachi was in it, and an older man and an older woman rested their hands on Sasuke's shoulder lovingly. It was a family picture. He put the pieces of information together. Those two must have been his parents. He noticed that in all the pictures, he himself have worn glasses. He found that ironic when he doesn't even need them to see. He gathered that it must have been a fashion-thing he had, but didn't really pay any mind to it.

"Itachi, these are…"

"These are our family pictures. Do you like it?" Itachi smiled as he put an arm around Sasuke's shoulder.

He does. As a matter of fact, Sasuke could not keep his eyes from looking at these family pictures on the wall; the smiles, the life events that they all went through together, the baby pictures, and the pictures of Itachi and Sasuke when they were children. He felt like for the first time since he was admitted out of the hospital that he was beginning to find his sense of self. It gave him hope that he might be able to find a sense of being in this world. "How come I never saw them before? At our old apartment?"

"It was a surprise for you. I hope you like it." He smiled some more as he rubbed soothing circles into his little brother's shoulder. They both stopped to look at the picture of themselves when they were younger. In the picture, Itachi held Sasuke in the same way, one hand over his shoulder. They were both smiling and covered in dirt, probably from playing and running around all day. Mirroring the picture, a genuine smile formed on Sasuke's lips.

"When… When did you do this? The house…. And the pictures. All the- stuff." He started to doubt Itachi again, looking for a plausible explanation for this.

"I decorated our new place before we moved in... Surprise!" Itachi lied again. He didn't want to. He was dying inside, but now was not the time to mope around. "Sasuke, I know what will make you happy. Follow me." Itachi dragged Sasuke by his wrist and dragged him down a few turns. They even passed by a room with the words "Itachi's Room" nailed to the door in light-blue block letters. They finally arrived at a door. Itachi pushed in. "This is your room, do you like it?"

Sasuke walked in, indeed, it was well-decorated already. On the walls were mostly academic and martial arts achievements, and they all had his name on it. The desk was neat with a small notepad and some colored pens lying around. There was a huge book case leaning against the far wall full of books both fiction and non-fiction alike, and at the top of the bookcase were various plagues and trophies in different shape and sizes, all inscribe with either the words "First Place" or "#1" on it. "You were such a good student, Sasuke. You were the best in everything, I mean, you still is, but you were- and that happened- so…" Unable to find the correct words, Itachi stopped trying to explain, seeing that Sasuke knew what he meant. Sasuke sat on the bed. There were pajamas folded neatly on top of the pillow. "You should take a shower and rest. Oh here, I almost forgot." Itachi handed Sasuke an A4 size orange envelop and a device. "This packet has your enrollment to a high school out near Shibuya station, the place where we just had our ramen today," Itachi couldn't have Sasuke's high school so close to home, "and this-" Itachi pointed at the device, "you should use this to call me when you need me. There is an instruction booklet there also if you need help. Please tell me you remember how to read."

"I can read."

"Great! I'm going to sleep." Itachi turned to leave. "Goodnight, Sasuke."

"Isn't your room- that way?" Sasuke pointed down the hall. He noticed Itachi made the wrong turn for his room.

"Yes, but I want to sleep in another room tonight."

()-()-()-()

Sasuke later found where Itachi was when he woke up to use the bathroom at night. Itachi was at the largest room in the estate; he was in the master bedroom. He made sure he was discreet so that Itachi couldn't hear him. Sasuke rubbed his sleepy eyes as he was trying to focus.

In the dark, he could make out Itachi's pale and muscular body as he was lying on the bed with only his sweatpants on. The moonlight beamed softly from the windows and illuminated Itachi's back. He faintly saw Itachi clenching two pillows and muffled sobs were heard. He could hear Itachi mumbled into the pillows with a hesitance to redeem himself, "I miss you… I really miss you. Father… Mother… I'm sorry."

()-()-()-()

* * *

_To be continued…_

* * *

A/N: Mystery will not go unsolved.

Oh and about the eyeshadow... Just think Sage Mode... *o*;;; I thought it was so great when I saw that in the anime. It was very gay. (Orochimaru is also a sage, and he has purple eyeshadows... stop *snap* fabulous! *pose*) ^^;


	5. Bromance

**A/N: **I want to advise you to Google "Visual Kei". It would make this chapter a lot more enjoyable and vivid if you are familiar with the VK culture. As the fic progresses, you most likely will also be introduced to a bit more of the gyaru / gyaru-o, and lolita culture that sprang from visual kei. If you don't want to ask google-sensei, imagine VK as the Japanese version of Goth merge with Punk Rock, but Drag is considered sexy to a woman the same way a non-drag style VK guy would be to her. Complicated fandom (that I wholeheartedly indulged myself in when I was younger ;).

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**Bromance**

* * *

Sasuke slept peacefully that night and continued to do so as he woke up early in the afternoon. Surprisingly, Itachi was home, in the living room, on the heated tatami mats, with one elbow propping up his head as the other was thumbing through a fashion magazine. Itachi was home, and not out some place else, where ever he decided to disappear to.

Itachi flipped a page with his thumb as he idly gaze up to see Sasuke rubbing his eyes and yawned.

"Mornin'." Sasuke sniffed. A salty yet fragrant aroma filled his nostrils.

Itachi made Sasuke sit down on the cushion in front of the traditional dinning table while he brought Sasuke some hot miso soup with tofu and some steamed rice. On top of the steamed rice, Itachi places some red pickled radish bits in the shape of a heart. Sasuke didn't know what to do with it. _Was he supposed to eat this? _Itachi wholeheartedly smiled at Sasuke, clutching the bowl in both of his hands, waiting for Sasuke's approval. Sasuke looked at Itachi and at his rice again, he looked at Itachi and at the rice again. He felt like throwing it out the window (out of love and appreciation, of course). The red heart was too much and it made him feel really uncomfortable. "Itachi, do you want me to… like… eat this?" He turned pale.

Itachi's smile got bigger as he nodded, sparkles graced his irises.

Sasuke dipped his chopsticks in the rice, and picked up the heart-shaped radish and rice slowly. He brought it in front of his mouth. His hands were shaking. Itachi smiled and nodded again. He swallowed the lump in this throat. He took a glance at Itachi. He smiled and nodded more furiously, egging him on to take a bite. Sasuke's head was spinning. The level of bromance was passed its boiling point. "Itadakimasu…T-th-thanks for the food…" and he opened his mouth.

()-()-()-()

The brothers spent a good few hours just watching TV and talking about nothing in particular, but everything they wanted to- except for Itachi's nightly activities. Sasuke knew better than to bring that up again so soon. It would be better to play dumb and wait it out for a better opportunity to ask, sometime later _again_.

Feeling bored, Sasuke threw a cushion at Itachi and hit his head, knocking him to the tatami. Sasuke chuckled as he saw his brother's face connected with the floor. Itachi, was quick to his feet as he grabbed the cushion with both hands and smashed it on top of Sasuke's head. Sasuke tried to run away by jumping over discarded soda cans and unopened snacks packs as he found another discarded cushion on the floor and countered it with an attack of his own. Sasuke smashed his orange-colored cushion into Itachi's blue-cushion to deflect the attack. Sasuke hopped two steps back, Itachi took two steps forward. A smirk creep up on Itachi's lips. Itachi launched at Sasuke and tripped him backwards as he slipped and fell butt-first on top of another floor cushion. Not having enough time to catch his breath and move out of the way, Itachi landed on top of his hips, straddling him with an evil grin in his eyes. "Oh, you're gonna get it now, little brother." Itachi raised his death-cushion as he smashed down on Sasuke's back repeatedly with the fury of a thousand vengeful Greek Gods. They smashed each other with floor cushions and laughed until they cried.

Everything was starting to take shape. His forgotten memories did not matter much anymore. He was enjoying his home life with an older brother who loves him. He was the only one in the world that mattered to him, and him the same. For the first time since Sasuke had left the hospital, he felt like there could be hope for happiness after all. Maybe, it wasn't so bad. Maybe it wasn't as bad as he thought it to be. Pictures of him and Itachi hung in the hallway, he looked back at the kid with glasses looking back at himself, like a mirror, smiling. Sasuke knew everything was going to be alright.

()-()-()-()

Itachi handed Sasuke three five-thousand yen bills and told him not to come back home too late. Sasuke wanted to explore Tokyo. He didn't know where to go, so he got off on the only station he knew: Shibuya Station. It was dark already, past dinner time, and the city was as alive as ever. The lights, the sound, and the people swirled around him in a seasonal frenzy as if they will never stop. He crossed the intersection again, but this time he waited for the light to turn green before walking. He was alone in person, but he felt like he was part of the crowd; not alone in spirit.

He looked in the coffee and cake shops and were amazed at the beautifully decorated pastries and cakes that graced the display window. A faint smell of coffee and sweets followed him as he strolled down Center Street. He kept walking, turning as his feet guided him passed the busier district. There was a faint echoing of music in the distance and he decided to follow the sound. With each step taken, the music only grew in volume. The sound led his feet to a huge gray building with the golden yellow letters "Shibuya O-West" in the front. It didn't appear to have windows, but there were these peculiar looking people lining up in front of it. Curious, he wanted to know what these people were lining up for.

A red-headed girl with short hair was standing in front of him talking to one of her friends, "Excuse me, miss…" The _girl_ turned around to reveal that _she_ was a _man_ in a leather mini skirt and thick dark eyeliner with eyebrows completely shaved, the kanji character for "Love" was tattooed on _his_ forehead. "Sorry, I mean, sir- What is this... event?" The man scratched his ass which in the process tucked up his mini skirt and fishnet stockings for all the world to see—his leopard briefs. Sasuke tried to look in another direction via second-hand embarrassment.

In the lowest, deepest baritone voice Sasuke had ever heard in his memories, this man spoke, "It's a visual kei event. Six Paths of Pain is playing. PAY ATTENTION, brother." The red head pointed at the ticket office with the cigarette between his thumb and index finger. "Are you coming or not? You are not dressed to impress- but- we don't discriminate."

"I..I…" Sasuke was dazed by the creativity and the combination of clothes in this particular crowd. He thought he has gotten most things figured out in this world. Man wearing skirts and make-up? He was confused with amusement and he wanted to find out more. He thanked the stranger with a polite bow, the red head replied with a thumbs up.

He bought a ticket and went in with that group of colorful people, following a couple of huge (probably) men in Victorian style dresses and extravagant eye make-up.

A roar of the bass guitar shook the concert hall as the lights flashed on. The crowd cheered piercingly as the headliner of this evening appeared behind a wall of smoke being raised by platforms from below the stage. There were six men, as far as he could tell, all had bright orange hair and the most awkward piercings Sasuke had ever seen. Most people he had seen would pierce their ears, and for the more adventurous ones, would have their eyebrows or belly button pierced. These guys went overboard with the piercing and pierced the bridges of their noses, their mouths, their cheeks, their ears, and god knows where else. Sasuke winced inwardly at the thought of the thick needle that created these holes. The riff of guitar and screams echoed in the concert hall, loud enough to shake the metal seats off their hinges. Sasuke bought the cheapest ticket: The pit ticket. He didn't know what it was or was getting himself into, but he knew now. With fist in the air the crowd cheered and pushed him around as if he was only the air around them. They all had their eyes on the stage, pushing closer, as close as they could possibly be to their idol.

"I'm Yahiko, and this is my master Nagato! He is the master of PAIN!" The one who named himself as Yahiko knelt on the stage ceremonially when a spotlight flashed on him, as the one named Nagato flew in on wires from the ceiling on cue. Nagato has dark reddish-burgundy hair, unlike the rest of the six. When Nagato landed in front of Yahiko, smoke burst from where he was standing as he undid his black cape to reveal a lean muscular body covered in tight black leather pants and a mesh shirt, his tattoo of a pair of bat wings shown clearly on his back.

He grabbed the mic that Yahiko handed to him.

"Come and feel my PAINNNN!" Nagato screamed as loudly as he could as the mash of guitar and drums crescendo into the beginning of another song. He spat out words that Sasuke couldn't understood in rhythm to the music, as he "death screamed" (so another fan in line had told him) in between the verses. Yahiko stood in front of Nagato as he, too, took off his black cape to reveal the same style of mesh shirt and black leather pants. Nagato sang softer now in a slower and emotional verse as he pressed his face against Yahiko's from the back. His long dark purple finger nails danced up Yahiko's torso. They drew circles on that mesh shirt as he reached further up to pinch Yahiko's nipple. With finger nails caught in the hole of the mesh shirt, Nagato ripped Yahiko's mesh shirt down the front to expose his well-toned six-packs glistering with sweat.

Nagato held the mic in front of Yahiko's lips as he moaned into the mic and licked it suggestively, swirling his tongue on the tip top and then down its length. He posed with his gaze down to the side turned towards the audience. Nagato's finger nails grazed his sensitive buds again, pressing the sharp tip of his nail into the tiny nipple hole.

Yahiko screamed in ecstasy. He dropped to his knees, kneeling in front of Nagato. With that same hand, Nagato took Yahiko's chin to yank his lips up to meet his in a deep kiss. Nagato bent down lower, digging his tongue deeper into Yahiko's mouth, lapping and sucking on his tongue. The spotlight diminished as the music came to a loud stop. The crowd cheered frantically, and some even cried.

Sasuke didn't know what to make of the show except that it was simply fascinating. A girl next to Sasuke screamed with tears in her eyes, "You are so beautiful! I love you Nagato-sama, the Master of Pain! Take my body! Take me! I want to be your slave!" Sasuke tried to back away from her as he ran into another on-coming group that was rushing to get closer to the stage. Sasuke was pushed around in the mosh pit. He felt sick and wonder why he signed up for this….as interesting as the show was.

A flash of yellow hair pushed past him as he caught the guy's eyes. It was that _Naruto person_. Naruto also saw him as he passed Sasuke. He turned around and stared right into his eyes as they both pause to stare at each other where they stood. It must have been a good seven seconds before Naruto gasped and ran straight up to Sasuke and slapped him on the back. "It's- OH YOU! Hey! It's you, the suicide guy! Hey guys, look, this is the guy I was telling you about." Emerging from behind Naruto, stood the same two guys that he saw at the ramen house. "These are my friends. This one here is Shikamaru, and this one in green is Chouji." He looked at his friends who looked back at him and then to Sasuke. "Oh yeah, sorry, and I'm Naruto." He held out his hand to Sasuke, waiting for a shake.

Sasuke didn't respond, but crocked his head. "I'm the suicide guy, huh? Does that make you my knight in shining armor? I don't have time for this game." Sasuke turned to walk the other way. Naruto jumped right in front of him blocking his way with a wide smile.

Naruto took Sasuke's chin in his hand and ran a quick thumb over his lips. "Hey, smile a little, huh." Sasuke sucked in his breath and hissed. He pushed Naruto's hand away.

"How about not." Sasuke continued to walk away while he felt his cheeks heating up. He covered his face with his hand and ran out the door.

"Waiiittttt!" Naruto ran out after Sasuke and caught him on his shoulder. "Yo! How 'bout we hang? With us." Shikamaru and Chouji not far behind, trying to catch up to Naruto. "Shikamaru, Chouji, you guys down for some beer at my place?"

"Naw man, Naruto." The one named Chouji spoke up, "Shikamaru's gonna give me a ride to my girlfriend's. Ino kept calling me non-stop during the live. She's probably pissed off right now."

Naruto looked to Shikamaru for confirmation. "Sorry man, Naruto, another day. Chouji need t' get his pussy and I'm his ride." The was a silent pause and nobody spoke. They all looked at Shikamaru, waiting for Shikamaru to realize what he had said. "Damn, that came out wrong."

"That's what she said! Ha ha ha!" Naruto slapped his knees and fell to the floor while rolling and laughing. "You're Chouji's _ride_, hahaha. That _came_ out! Ha ha ha! You are full of jokes today, Shikamaru!"

"So troublesome…" Shikamaru let out a sigh.

Chouji fist bumped Naruto as him and Shikamaru walked off to find his car.

Sasuke had been sitting on the floor with his legs crossed, just listening to the whole thing, because he'd got nothing better to do. "So you… hey you. I never caught your name." Naruto tapped the sitting Sasuke with his foot before lighting a cigarette in his mouth.

"Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke."

"Sasuke, eh? Well, Sasuke, where are you going now?" Naruto squatted down next to him and offered him a cigarette in which he declined.

"Home, I guess."

"How 'bout we find something else to do? Since we are friends and all, we should get to know each other better, so wud do you say?" It was that big silly grin again.

Sasuke tilted his head to eye the guy standing above him curiously. "W-we are friends?"

()-()-()-()

Sasuke followed ten steps behind Naruto as the blond sprinted to a Family Mart convenience store to buy beer and another pack of cigarette. They must have walked for half an hour already, and they still haven't reach Naruto's home yet. He thought about leaving, since he got his first day of school tomorrow, but something about the blond kept him there. Naruto was like a beam of light and energy that would never fade. Even as they walked pass the residential zone and the lights were dim and the streets were quiet, Naruto did not change. He just kept talking. He talked about everything, from his favorite food to his dream of becoming a rock star, and Sasuke listened.

Sasuke listened and smiled as Naruto mouth moved and more words came out. Naruto laughed at his own jokes and Sasuke nervously laughed with him even though he didn't understand his humor. Something about Naruto made him forget about himself, a part of himself that was in the dark. Whenever Naruto spoke again, he felt lighter, like a ray of sunshine had dawned upon him, even though the winter was drawing near.

"So I was saying, Sasuke, what is it?" Sasuke was lost in his thoughts and didn't notice when Naruto was speaking to him, "I said, which high school do you go to? I mean, if you go to school at all, but me, I just like skipping." He seemed to be proud of that fact.

Shaking his head clear of his thoughts, he searched his pocket for that piece of paper he had written his school's name down. "Umm, I think it was- umm, let see- _Principal Sarutobi Honors High School_."

"Hey! That's my high school too! Oh my God, this is fate!" Naruto took Sasuke's hands into his own, "We are going to be best friends, Sasuke!"

Sasuke inwardly winced for the second time today. _Best friends? _He wasn't sure if he was even going to be able to stand the blond now. _I mean, we are so different and all…_

()-()-()-()

Naruto kicked off his shoes in two different directions and let the shoes land wherever they will land as he entered his apartment. Sasuke took off his shoes like a normal person and sat them to the side. At least, as normal as he thought he should. He picked up Naruto's shoe and set it next to his, lining their shoes up neatly.

"No need to be so courteous, make yourself at home! I moved out into my own apartment for the sole reason of not being tidy, please don't ruin that for me." Naruto took the shoes Sasuke lined up so neatly next to his and threw them in the air. Sasuke watched as the shoes bounced off the back of the door and landed on its side. "Welcome to casa Naruto, where all your dreams come true!" Naruto threw a cold beer at Sasuke and he caught it with one hand.

"What is this?" Sasuke eyed the can and shook it.

"Hey hey, don't shake that. Wait- you mean you never had a beer before?"

Sasuke shook his head.

"Oh, this is going to be great...!"

()-()-()-()

Naruto tried to pinch Sasuke's ass as Sasuke rolled to dodge on the floor in the filth that they created from discarded cans and snack wraps. "You dumb-fuck, what the hell are you doing?!" Sasuke trapped Naruto's hand between his thighs and proceed to smack Naruto's ass with his free hand before falling over on the empty beer cans.

Seeing the opportunity, Naruto got up on his unsteady legs and sat on Sasuke's face. Sasuke tried to push him off with wobbly hands. "Suck dis biitch! Ha!" Naruto said as he jokingly thrust his hips in Sasuke's face and let out a fart right after.

Furious that he had lost in his play wrestling match with Naruto, he flipped the blonde over with the momentum from his legs. The blonde landed face-first and on his stomach, unable to get up. Sasuke sat on his back and crossed his legs. "Whos da bitch now?"

They laughed and wrestled each other to the floor as they lost count how many times they each won. The only stopped to rest when they each opened a new can of beer and drank it down in one gulp. That later on inspired a match to see who could down the can of beer the fastest in one gulp.

Naruto burped. "I won again!"

"No, I won! I drank four in forty-five seconds and you only drank three and a half!" Sasuke wanted to make a point by standing up only to find out that he suddenly felt unsteady as he fell forward dropping in front of where Naruto was sitting and meeting Naruto in an accidental kiss before landing his head on Naruto's lap. Sasuke realized what had happened and froze where he was with his eyes wide open- in Naruto's _lap_. Naruto held his breath, also with his eyes wide open. They froze, not daring to move even a single muscle. He didn't mention the incident, hoping Sasuke didn't realize what had happened in his drunken state. He crossed his fingers mentally.

()-()-()-()

Fourteen beers, three bags of spicy corn chips, and half a pack of cigarette later, Naruto somehow convinced Sasuke that his clothes suck.

"Sasuke, your clothes suck." Sasuke was convinced. "Here, let me give you some," taking Sasuke's hand in his own, he lead Sasuke to the direction of his room as they both stumbled down the short hallway and fell face down on the bed when they arrived. Rolling down the bed and getting up by holding the bed for support, Naruto opened his closet door to search for the items. In his dizzy state, Naruto managed to find what he was looking for: his black jeans, and a black long sleeve silk screen sweater with some straps and studs on it. He out grew this sweater, but it should fit Sasuke perfectly. He threw them at Sasuke and hit him in the face. "Put these on."

Sasuke finally changed into Naruto's clothes and stood up as he tripped over his own jeans a couple of times before landing face first onto the bed again. It was not an easy task.

Naruto turned him in circles to look him over.

"I think- you need something more." Naruto took off his own belt and handed it over to Sasuke who took it and slipped it into the loops of those tight jeans; they are tight even for Sasuke's size. The silver hawk buckle shined proudly under the refection from the lights. "…Almost." Taking his own pewter cross necklace from his neck, Naruto stood facing Sasuke as he brought his hands behind Sasuke's neck, securing the clasp on the necklace. The stood like this for a moment as they caught each other's eyes. They immediately turned to face a different direction as they realized that they were looking straight at each other. Naruto closed the clasp on the necklace.

"Woww…" Sasuke turned around to look at himself in the mirror, "I look… like you."

"No, you rock this sweater harder than I ever would! Just look at you!" Sasuke turned around to look at himself in the mirror again. He _does_ look good and his old clothes _do_ suck a lot compare to this. "Now all you need is some make-up to complete the look!"

"Wait wait wait!" Sasuke crossed his arms and frowned. "I didn't agree to put on some drag queen make-up like you, Naruto."

"It's not drag, mind you. It's visual kei! V-K-! J-rock! Do you get me?" A blank look washed across Sasuke's face. There were so much he was learning today. "And only the most handsome and confident of men can walk around proudly showing off his beauty to the world, making females cum their panties as they can only dream about fucking us." Hands on his hips, Naruto smirked confidently and winked at Sasuke who held back a blush. "I think you need some eyeliner."

He pushed Sasuke on his bed as he climbed on top of Sasuke's lap and straddled him. Sasuke didn't know why he agreed to this and why he was letting Naruto do as he pleased. Taking out his darkest eyeliner, Naruto carefully, as best as he drunkenly could, drew eyeliner on Sasuke's top eyelids. He told Sasuke to open his eyes and look up as he drew the bottom lid with the same eyeliner. Commanding Sasuke to close his eyes again, Naruto selected an eye shadow to match; a sparkly dark purple eye shadow. He applied that on his lids carefully as Sasuke closed his eyes. Naruto aimlessly drifted his eyes to the man's long eyelashes and his perfectly-shaped brow; his noticed his pink lips were losing moisture. What could he do to moisten those lips again? Naruto lean in closer to Sasuke. A small idea tug at a far corner of his mind.

Sasuke licked his lips in perfect timing. Naruto lean back and held back a blush. What the heck was he thinking? _Sasuke is not a girl!_ Naruto took out a clear lip gloss and applied it to Sasuke's lips. He leaned back to look at his creation. _Faultless._

Naruto got off of Sasuke's lap to let Sasuke check himself in the mirror. Sasuke blinked and smacked his lips. There was no need for blush, his cheeks were already pink from the intoxication. "I look like a fuckin' girl."

"Bro, you're gonna get mad pussy."

()-()-()-()

It was nearly five in the morning when the boys fell onto Naruto's bed, completely exhausted. Somehow, during their drunken fun night, the boys have gotten out of their shirts as their bare upper bodies tangled within themselves. Sasuke felt he was pressed up against a warm body as he lie there in the sweat-drenched sheets by a strong arm that pulled him closer. He felt a leg climbed over his thighs, locking him in a full-body embrace. He forgot where he was, but he felt warm and safe as he was falling asleep in this person's arms. He closed his eyes and gave permission to the intoxication as it took over his body.

Maybe, for once, he could drown in a dreamless sleep instead of drowning in a puddle of blood in a nightmare.

()-()-()-()

* * *

_**To be continued…**_

* * *

**A/N:** I wrote fluff.

I wrote fluff. Fluff comedy.  
And I made Naruto fart in Sasuke's face.

Nagato-sama please punish me... T_T

oh, but honey, don't do_ that_... *pushes Nagato's hand away*


	6. Green Fairy

**A/N:** I'm a huge fan of_ Attack on Titans_ and _Breaking Bad _as well! Oh, the object references~! In the prologue, the restrains used on Sasuke was based on the straps from the 3D maneuver gear. HA! I don't do crossovers, but I steal their objects! There are 2 more object references in this chapter, can you find them? XD

* * *

**Chapter 6**

**Green Fairy**

* * *

_The initial sensation was warmth._

Warmth that surrounded his body in an envelope of pure bliss; he breathed into it, caressing the smooth skin with his face. _Where was he? _He didn't care. It was cold outside of the touch and he never wanted to be part from it. He wrinkled his nose at the smell of unwashed laundry and all the thoughts of those delights faded away. He blinked his eyes opened slowly to a blurry image of a hand that lay in front of him. No, that was not his own hand, and those strong arms holding him were not his own.

_The second was the vibration of sound._

He just noticed it now in his hazy state, that the true perpetrator that woke him up was a melodic ringing, the sound quality was poorly produced electronically and was muffled. His eyes searched for where the sound could have came from. It was under the clothes that he discarded on the floor. Memories rushed back to him; the events of his first experience of drunkenness: the make-up, the clothes, the beer, the concert... He met a guy named Naruto.

_Right, then, this must his room, if this is his room and this is his bed, then, these are—_his arms holding onto him. And Naruto had somehow held onto his body during the night, both of them were half bare with only their lower halves covered by long pants. Oh _gawd._

His eyes opened wide at the sight as he pushed out of that lose grasp. He rolled on the floor and fell as he mistook the edge of the bed to be much further away. His head pounded at him and he felt tired. As he tried to bring himself into composure, his head only hurt more.

The ringing sound was getting louder as he wobbly approached the noise. It must have been his cellphone. He dug around on his discarded pile of clothes on the floor quickly before locating the device. It only has one bar of battery left and it was about to die. He pressed the green button and held the device next to his ear, "hello…?"

"Hey, Sasuke, where are you? You didn't come back last night and I've been calling you and sending you text messages. Are you ok? Where are you?"

It was his brother, and he was angry. What are text messages?

"Itachi, I'm just at a friend's house. I'm sorry... I felt asleep. Yeah..."

"Do you know what today is? The first day of school, and where are you?! What friend?"

Sasuke looked at the clock on the wall, it was passed 1pm. "Oh …. I will- Itachi I'll call you later. I'm going to go to school now…"

"Hey wait, but what about –" Sasuke hung up on his brother as he jumped on the bed rocking the sleeping form. The blond slowly gained consciousness as he rubbed his eyes. Sasuke smacked him with a pillow on the head twice before throwing it against the wall and using his feet to nudge the side of his head.

"Hey stupid, wake up... wake up, wake up!" Naruto sat up, looked at the clock on his wall, and yawned lazily into a stretch.

"But why? I want to sleep longer…" He rubbed both sides of his head with his fingers as he fell backwards onto the pillow and turned the other way. "Goodnight—"

"Naruto, the first day of school—We go to the same school right? Let's go! Come on, get up!"Sasuke had resorted to begging now, "P-please? For me? I'm new there and I can't afford to miss the first day..." Naruto put the thick blanket over his head, ignoring Sasuke. He needed his sleep, and school was the last thing on his mind. "Ah dammit." With both hands, Sasuke lifted the blanket and went under it. It was warm and comfortable indeed, but he was not about to let comfort take over his mode of revenge and just lay there and sleep. He started to poke Naruto to test for his ticklish spots. He found them all, it was everywhere. Naruto was laughing and tearing as he rolled off the bed and landed by the pile that was his school uniform. Naruto was up.

They both raced to the bathroom together to get first dips on the toilet. They drank so much beer, and they both needed to go as bad. As they reached the bathroom, they found something more immediate that they needed to take care of. Laughter burst forth when they looked at each other in the mirror. The make-up that Naruto put on him was smeared all over his face, and so was Naruto's own. "Sasuke, we have to get this shit off our faces."

"Yeah, I look like a drag queen."

"You wish you look like a drag queen. You're more like a drag beggar to me." Naruto snorted.

Sasuke crossed his arms in defense, as Naruto wiped the make-up off his eyes carefully with a cotton pad. "And who's fault was that?"

"Ok ok, it's my fault, but you slept with it on. Before that you look great though." Naruto winked at him. Sasuke a small blush was trying to creep up on his cheeks. "And it's not drag… that term is so generic and _feminine_. Why can't men wear eyeliner? My friend, Gaara wears these thick eyeliner and a leather skirt with fishnet stockings, he's so knees deep in pussy every single day that he had no time to study. He just fuck the girl into doing his homework for him or the teachers to pass his class, and that's how he's been passing high school for the last three years. Lucky bastard…"

Sasuke was reminded of someone that had looked like the description at the concert hall, but couldn't recall whom. Everybody was looking quite _unique_ there. "Great story, Naruto, but you look terrible with orange eye make-up, please don't do _this_ again." Sasuke wiped the remnants of Naruto's make-up with his thumb. It was the first time seeing Naruto without some sort of make-up or eyeliner on. The guy was good looking to say the least; with big blue eyes and that gorgeous looking skin. He shook his head clear of that thought and lowered his gaze. His eyes dropped to a particular spot on Naruto's body. He stared at the circular design on his stomach. "Nice... tattoo." Trying hard to remember the word that he learned from watching it on TV.

"Yeah, it's nice." Was all Naruto said. There was a certain quality to the tone of his voice and his eyes looked serious for a moment before turning back into its usual brightness. He walked towards his room, and gestured for Sasuke to follow. "Come on, let's get ready for school."

Naruto picked up his school uniform on the floor with the tip of his toes. He flung them onto his bed; Gray pants, white dress shirt, and a black outer coat with a high collar—the typical Japanese school uniform. He didn't even finish buttoning his shirt when he walked out of the door with a small backpack. "What are you doing, Sasuke, didn't you want to go?" Sasuke stood at the threshold of his room.

"I—" Sasuke bit his lips, "I don't exactly have a school uniform to wear…"

()-()-()-()

Naruto pulled something out from the back of the closet and threw them at Sasuke's feet. It was his summer uniform: short sleeves dress shirt with grey pants made with thinner materials than the winter ones. "Sorry, I only have one set of winter." Sasuke put it on, and to his non-surprise, the clothes were a little big on him, just like Naruto's other clothes. With not much of a choice, he wore his own jacket instead of the regulated school jacket. Naruto knew Sasuke was going to be scold at for that, but at least he'll be warm. "Here." Naruto slung a red scarf around his neck. The scarf was a bit long but it'll do for now.

()-()-()-()

Surely, the scolding from the principal was due in time, but not for Sasuke. The principal blamed Sasuke's choice of uniform attire and tardiness on Naruto's lack of discipline from his parents. Naruto reasoned that he was eighteen years old already and wanted to live according to his own rules. Principal Sarutobi gave him an ultimatum to change over before they kick him out of school. The principal told Naruto to stay away from Sasuke, be that he will be a bad example for the new student to follow. Sasuke watched as he felt uneasiness crept up his throat like a big lump that was stuck and felt like it was his fault for the ultimatum they imposed on Naruto by the headmaster. Sasuke was made to sit in the principal's office and listen to him talk about the school's history and rules and regulations while Naruto was sent back to his homeroom to sit in a corner to complete his homework assignments.

The clock ticked as they counted in silence the seconds until the clock strikes four-thirty when the last bell rang.

Sasuke strolled out of the front gate of the school with his hands in his pockets. He realized that he was alone again. A gust of wind picked up and blew a leaf to his face. He sneezed. He thought about how he is going to get home and where to turn to get to the station as he walked down the stairs. He took out his phone, about to make a call to Itachi.

"Yo." At the bottom of the stairs, facing the front gate was Naruto, leaning by the tree, and propping his body up with one leg; one arm was crossed at his chest. A smug look on his face. "Did you enjoy the field-trip at _Principal Monkey-Butt'_s office?" He lit the cigarette between his teeth and blew out a puff of smoke.

"No thanks to you." A smile stole its way onto Sasuke's lips as he quickly turned that smile into a flat line again to keep his cool. He waved the bitter-smelling smoke away from his face. "I thought you went home already, and your smoking habit is disgusting."

"Naw, I was waiting for you." He walked up to face Sasuke as he sneezed again and covered his mouth. He wiped his nose that was turning pink from the dry weather. Naruto flicked the cigarette into the air behind Sasuke's ear. "We are going to see _6 Paths_ again—" Naruto reached up behind Sasuke's neck with both hands to tuck on the soft red scarf. The cigarette flipped in the air. "—would you like to join us?" He continued the motion until he wrapped the scarf around Sasuke's neck, and let the tasseled end of the scarf drop to the front of his jacket. The thrown cigarette continued to flip towards the ground. The tip of the scarf slipped from Naruto's fingers. The cigarette hit the floor.

Naruto didn't realize how close their faces were again. Black orbs met with clear blue for just a single moment as it froze in time. Sasuke's breath was moist and warm against his lips. Naruto need to stop thinking about—_these_ kinds of strange thoughts. Damn this ungodly hangover.

Sasuke took a deep breath.

The scarf was warm and it smelled like Naruto's cigarettes.

The walked away leaving the cigarette bud behind to burn. The orange bud flashed for the last time, and it was no more.

()-()-()-()

They went back to the same ramen-house as Naruto loudly and rudely ordered his third bowl of chashu miso ramen and another round of beer. He burped loudly as he finished eating, patting his stomach. "Hey you guys, today is my treat. Y'all got that?" He handed the owner a bunch of bills and told her to keep the change. The owner bowed a couple of times and was thankful to receive the money. "Come on guys, let's go!" Without waiting for anyone, he went on ahead to lead the way. Chouji caught up to Naruto from behind as Sasuke and Shikamaru stayed in the back.

Shikamaru was the first to break the silence. "Ya know, Sasuke," The Shikamaru guy was talking to him, "Naruto might not look or act like it, but he came from a wealthy family, the Uzumaki, who is a close business associates of my family's, the Nara. If you were wondering how he's been paying for everything, it's because his dad sends him money regularly, as much as he wants…"

"And?"

"And— actually, what I'm trying to say is… I don't want you to judge him for his bad habits and the way he spends money. We knew him long enough to know that he's not a bad person, but we all had our traumas, ya know?" Sasuke nodded slowly, trying to take in the meaning behind Shikamaru's vague explainations. "Some tremors run deep… and could change a person, completely—" Shikamaru paused. "—Naruto's not there yet, but I think he's heading towards that path sometimes and... I'm really worried." Sasuke had remembered the path in which he had chosen just not too long ago. Shikamaru continued, "He wants to be bad. He wants to be rude. He wants to skip school—even though he loves to study…"

Sasuke finally turned to look at Shikamaru as they walked, "Then why…?"

"And this is where I have to stop talking, Sasuke-kun. Just let him do what makes him happy, ok?"

Naruto turned around to flip them off with both hands. Shikamaru waved back and chuckled.

()-()-()-()

After three solid hours of screaming, loud metal music, flashy stage lights, and eye-candy erotica, Naruto waved goodbye to Chouji and Shikamaru. Ino called again and was upset at some girl problems that he most likely cannot solve. Sasuke stuck around.

"What are we going to do now?" They stopped walking until they stopped at an alleyway somewhere far from the arena by walking distance. Sasuke lean against the brick wall while Naruto squatted to smoke another cigarette. The street lamp above them flickered and buzzed as another insect flew into it. Its lifeless body then dropped to the puddle below, still twitching.

"We can start by you not smoking." Sasuke said flatly.

Naruto was offended. "And who died and made you my mom?"

"You're disgusting."

As Sasuke turned to walk away from Naruto with hands in his coat pockets, a door in front of him opened up. A tall, dark, and buff-looking man with a tight-fitting shirt and sunglasses threw someone around their age out the door. The kid landed on the floor in front of him in a thuck as an alley dog barked and wagged its tail in his direction. The young man dusted himself off without looking at them, he spat on the ground as he walked away with the alley dog following behind, curses under his breath.

Out through the door behind the buff man, peeked something orange. "Get out and stay out. You are not friends of the band." It was Yahiko from _6 Paths of Pain_. From behind Yahiko, the one who called himself Nagato walked out calmly, no longer in his stage outfit, he was dressed in a white buttoned-up shirt with its sleeve rolled up, Nagato's Virgin Mary tattoo was half visible just below his sleeve.

Naruto's mouth was wide open. It was 6 Paths themselves and he couldn't help but fanboy. He couldn't believe his eyes. It was them in real person, so close to them, with nobody else around. Oh god, oh god, oh _GOD_.

Nagato saw them from behind his shades. He tipped his sunglasses down to take a good look at the two guys in front of him. _Both, very good looking._ He shot a look at Yahiko who smirked back. "Hey, you two," Yahiko combed through his hair with his fingers, "would you like to help me light my cigarette-" He pointed with his thumb as he grinned, "—inside?"

"Me— I mean, us?" Yahiko nodded and gestured for them to follow. Naruto ran from behind to grab Sasuke's hand and pulled him forward, following Yahiko's lead.

Sasuke, couldn't for the life of him, understand why the guys were wearing sunglasses at night.

()-()-()-()

It was literally a hole in the wall, but not the typical shabby place that one would expect. It was very well decorated in the interior with glowing neon black lights, sofas, and a stripper pole, loud techno music was playing in the background. Posters of the band plastered loosely on the wall along with several other posters of nuddy girls in very complicated positions. One of the girls in the poster held a whip and wore a mask, her red high heel shoes resting comfortably on another girl's back. This place even has its own mini bar. Sitting on the different velvet sofas were members of the band and half-dressed groupie chicks. One of the members of 6 Paths was in the far corner with two completely naked girls, one riding his hips while he fingered the other one. It was all in plain sight and nobody raised an eye at them, for it was probably a normal occurrence for this circle. Nagato took the biggest sofa and plopped right in the middle of it. Sasuke and Naruto followed in Yahiko's footsteps, each taking a side and sat down next to Nagato. They looked around and at each other, bewildered and nervous at the same time. The leader poured them each a drink. It was green and it smelled herby. Naruto never seen it in his life, he usually go for the beer.

"You should try it." Yahiko urged them as he downed the liquor in one gulp. Sasuke looked to Naruto for confirmation and Naruto nodded. They both down the green liquor in one breath. It was strong, and Sasuke couldn't help but gagged and coughed a few times. Naruto cleared his throat. It was strong indeed.

"Absinthe." Nagato spoke, "the green fairy drink." With one hand on the sofa cushion as support, Nagato lean in close to Naruto's ear and whispered, "Do you believe in magic?" Naruto felt his spine chilled at his bitter-sweet melodic voice. Naruto could have sworn Nagato flicked his ear with his tongue.

Yahiko took out a small bag, in it held bits and pieces that resembled blue-colored ice. He poured some onto the table in front of them and smashed it with the hilt of a knife, turning the substance into fine white powder.

He had a knife tucked in his belt the whole time. Naruto shuddered at that thought.

Instantly, these half-dressed, some topless, girls came over to Yahiko to hang themselves over his shoulders, pushing, all begging for a hit—to _get high_. Yahiko expertly separated the powder up in lines as he sniffed one of the lines in his nose with a rolled up five-thousand yen bill. He let out a loud "Yeah!" as he punched the sofa with his fist. He offered the rolled-bill to the best looking girl there to go second.

"You want to try?" Nagato moved his hand that was previously supporting him on the sofa and slipped it onto Naruto's thigh, "I promise it will be good." He gave Naruto's thigh a hard squeeze, drawing a hiss from Naruto. Seeing that Naruto didn't complaint, his hand tried its luck in moving further up. "The meth, of course." Nagato lean back to let Naruto take the rolled up money from Yahiko's hand, separating the closeness of their bodies. Naruto stared at it between his fingers.

Nagato turned his eyes on Sasuke as he took another sip of absinthe. Sasuke was unaware of his movements until it was too late, the older man grabbed his chin and kissed him with his mouth open, the liquor escaped from the corner of Sasuke's mouth as he drank the liquid that Nagato forced down his throat. He tried to cough, but Nagato's mouth did not leave his. His tongue pushed deeper into Sasuke's own as Sasuke choked on the bitterness of the liquor. Sasuke was feeling drunk again, knowing what this feeling was from his most recent experience. Sasuke's body felt hot as his vision blurred into seeing doubles in front of him.

Naruto kept his attention on the rolled-paper, in deep thoughts, contemplated in trying this _meth-business_ as he was oblivious to Sasuke's situation.

Nagato slipped a quick hand inside the front of Sasuke's pants and rubbed the bottom of his balls up and down with two fingers through his thin briefs. Sasuke was caught by surprised and yelped loudly. He tried his best to push Nagato off of him. Nagato didn't let up, and instead, tighten the hold on his member through his underwear in a possessive grip, mouth still connected to Sasuke's. Sasuke screamed at his sudden administrations as he fell himself harden. The sensation was so foreign to him and it felt… it felt… he felt violated, but secretly..._secretly_... well, he haven't decided what that 'secretly' was yet.

That caught Naruto's attention as he heard Sasuke's reaction. "You… Sasuke!" He threw the rolled-paper away and stood up in a haste, pushing Nagato off of Sasuke's with a strong grip. Nagato fell back and landed on the back of the sofa without even breathing a single sound of surprise. Naruto grabbed Sasuke's hand and pulled him over the short table in front of them, knocking over the drinks and the drugs. Sasuke stumbled behind Naruto as Naruto weaved through the girls and the broken bottles on the floor unskillfully. They stumbled out the door and closed it behind them.

"_Leaving so soon?!"_ Yahiko's voice was heard from a distance behind the door as they all laughed. The party will go on without them.

()-()-()-()

"The fans would literally kill to be in your position!" Naruto put a hand over Sasuke's forehead to check his temperature. Honestly, Naruto was a little bit jealous, but not jealous enough to make out with a guy, of course. "Next time just be more careful, he's a nice guy, just say 'no' to him." Sasuke sat up on the floor to lean his back against a pillow. "I would have liked to stay, but you didn't look like you enjoyed it—so …"

Sasuke took a sip from a glass of ice water; feeling the condensation on the cool glass as he pressed the glass on his heated cheeks. "It was weird… I can't say I didn't enjoy it, but it was weird."

"So you liked it?"

"No, not that either." He thought back to the situation in the room, and Nagato's slim and skillful fingers rubbing against his privates. "I don't know. I'm not sure..." It was definitely different to have another person touching his junk. "It was just harmless fun, now that I thought about it."

"Were you always into that?" Naruto tilted his head quizzically. "I mean, that's cool and all. I'm quite open-minded as long as it's not me."

"I—I…" Sasuke thought for a moment. What was he supposed to be? He didn't even know himself or have a concept of how he was supposed to act. Was there a way he was supposed act? He often wondered what his old self would say to him. What was he like before he lost his memories. "I don't even know what I am…"

"Well, it's normal not to know ourselves, Sasuke." Naruto pat him on the back as he handed him a beer. Sasuke held the beer to his cheek without opening it. "At our age, I don't even know what I want to do tomorrow, no wait—I do, I want to eat ramen."

"No, I don't think you understand…" Sasuke rolled the can of beer up from the bridge of his nose to his forehead.

"What do you mean?"

Sasuke closed his eyes. "This is not easy to say, but I… suffered some kind of a head injury and lost my memories. I had just recently been admitted out of the hospital. I don't know who I am. What I am. My morals. What I like, what I dislike. It's all a blank. I didn't remember my parents or my own name. I am relearning everything about myself and the world. My only connection to my memories is my older brother." He thought to the time Itachi came home injured with a bag full of money—and a gun. "And I am not even sure about him… How did we manage to get a house out of no where? I have so many questions and not enough answers…Sometimes I just wish I could, you know," Sasuke looked into Naruto's eyes while holding onto the cold can of beer over the bridge of his nose, "—disappear." Naruto kept his eyes on Sasuke. He knew what Sasuke was referring to.

"You mean you don't remember a thing about yourself at all?" Sasuke shook his head. Naruto plopped his chin on a pillow that was on the floor, facing Sasuke. His eyes were filled with a certain type of regret and seriousness that Sasuke had never seen before during his short time knowing the blond. "I also had a past," Naruto started out slowly, "that I wish I could forget." Sasuke were all ears. "I wish one day, my memories could just be sweep away… poof." Naruto extended his hand that was in a loose fist and released his fingers. "Like, disappear…" Naruto covered his eyes with his hands as tears were threatening to fall. Then he was quiet. The air in the room was tense.

Naruto took a deep breath, "I killed him…" Sasuke held his breath and swallowed a lump in his throat. He pressed his dried lips together as he felt the air in the room changed. Naruto spoke on, his voice cracking. "I-I killed my twin brother."

_The last sensation was Fear._

"I killed him…"

* * *

_**To be Continued…**_

* * *

**A/N:** From here on out, the story will get more complicated and will really take a dramatic turn... hopefully? Haha. I had the next 2 chapters written but haven't posted them yet, it's because I hate keep going back and changing small details in the previous chapters (and I'm guilty of doing that, just today, even) so that it will be consistent with the rest of the story. Cuz sometimes you will write something describing something small and then you read that again in a week and you waz like, "wait, but but, it's not consistent with the ending-" and etc.

So, did you guys find the objects? :D


	7. Menma

**A/N:** Thank you for the wonderful reviews! I try to take the time to answer everyone unless it was an anon account ^^; I hope you enjoy the story thus far as it will get more intense from this point on. I treasure everyone's comments and reviews!

Menma is not OC! :D If you've seen the 6th movie, he was Naruto's doppelganger from another world (HA!). I thought he was perfect for this fic so I had to use him ^^ _Menma_ in Japanese is another ramen topping, like _Naruto_. I'm like incredibly attracted to Menma [dark!Naruto] (even more than Naruto) It's terrible, I know. Google 'Menma Naruto' and look at the images. Menma is like so drool worthy.

Onward~~

* * *

"I killed my twin brother… I killed him!" Sasuke widen his eyes in shock as he listened to Naruto, but did not make a sound as he listened on, "but—but it was an accident. I didn't mean to—He just…"

"Tell me." Sasuke wanted to know his story.

"It was… it was like this…" Naruto explained as Sasuke listened intently; his thoughts drifted off to the events that followed of that fateful day. "His name was Menma."

* * *

**Chapter 7**

**Menma**

* * *

Naruto tapped his pen on the algebra text book as his foot moved to the rhythm of the soft pop music in the background. It was his homework music; just the right combinations of upbeats without lyrics that were too emotional to distract him from studying for the final exam tomorrow. He must ace this subject without failed. A single 'B' mark would stand out like a sore thumb amongst the other A's and he would not let himself off that easily.

He was interrupted when someone busted in through the door unannounced. He was talking loudly on his cellphone as he threw himself on Naruto's bed, not his _own_ bed. It was Naruto's twin brother who enjoyed the routine of dominating his space and taking his stuff.

"So I was saying—" Menma kicked off his socks and shoved his feet onto Naruto's pillow, "—that man-whore kept coming back for more, isn't that something?" He laughed as he combed his fingers through his nappy black hair. Naruto noted the black hair that Menma had recently dyed to purposefully distinguish himself from him. "I really liked him at first, but he became too much of a burden." He struggled to take his shirt off while keeping the phone to his ear. "Naw, I think I will keep him around for fun. His virgin ass so fuckin' tight and I love the way he moans." He laughed some more as he picked his nose with his pinky finger and wiped it on Naruto's bed covers. Naruto furrowed his brow in disgust. His brother was always like this, and he could never get used to it.

"Menma, what the hell?!" Naruto stood up, only to have Menma ignore him and turned his back on him as he continued to talk on the phone.

Menma picked his ear with the same pinky finger. "I pushed that bitch down the steps and he still came crawling back to tell me he _loves_ me or some shit. No no, he didn't get hurt. It was like three steps, anyways… Well, I can't help it if bitch wants the _D_, ya know whut I'm sayin'?" He laughed as took out a pack of cigarettes from his back pocket and lit the cancer stick between his lips.

"Menma, were you listening?! And no smoking in the room! AND, get off my bed!" Naruto yanked the cigarette from his mouth and threw it outside the window. Menma blew smoke in Naruto's face. Naruto waved a hand in front of his face to get rid of the screen of smoke. "You're disgusting." Naruto hissed. The cigarette hit the pavement on the ground floor and bounced a few times before the bud burned out, leaving only its ash behind.

"Get out and stay out!"Menma pushed Naruto roughly out of their room. Naruto fell to the floor on his bottom, one hand above his head as he blocked the textbook Menma had thrown at him. A soft click, and Menma had locked the door. Naruto tried to open it and knocked, pounding on the hallow hardwood door.

"Hey, open this door right now! It's my room too!"

He heard a click, as the door peek open again, but only a small crack. Menma was holding something in his hand through the crack; Naruto's ipod with headphones wrapped around its case. Naruto took it and said nothing. Menma said nothing as well and closed the door again, the click from the lock was not heard. Naruto studied in the living room.

Menma wasn't always like this. When they were little, he would always stand up for him when bullies were trying to pick on him. Menma would always be the one with the bloody fists and get scolded by their parents. Menma was always the one to blame—and he took it. As they grew up, Menma had taken on a darker personality due to peer pressure and hanging out with the wrong crowd. He started smoking and Naruto absolutely hated it.

Menma's regular run-in with the law only multiply as the scars on his body increased due to the fights, but, they were all for him; those bastards that would always come after Naruto to do their homework for them, and threaten to beat him up when he said he wouldn't.

Naruto remembered and he was always grateful when Menma show up before he got hurt. One time, a guy had pushed Naruto into a back alley as he threatened Naruto to do his history homework for him. When Naruto said he wouldn't, the guy grabbed the front of his shirt and ripped it open, exposing his bare chest. Naruto tried to cover as he stumbled and attempted to runaway only to be tripped over by the guy's foot. The guy sat on his hips as he undid Naruto's school belt in a frenzy and unzipped his school pants, but not before sending a punch right to his stomach. He gasped for air. Naruto remembered squirming painfully on the floor as his vision was blurred with pain. The guy _touched _him. Out of his blurry vision, as he was knocked on the floor, he could see Menma running up behind to choke the guy as he pressed the bully against the brick wall. The bully begged for his life as Menma varied his punches from his face and his stomach until the bully's blood was splashed across Menma's face—the same face as his own, but with the ferocity of a rabid animal unleashed.

Naruto tapped his pen on his algebra textbook to the beat of the song in his headphone, a smile graced across his lips.

()-()-()-()

Menma went home ahead first as Naruto said he was going out. He was going to meet Shikamaru and Chouji for shaved ice. It was summer and shaved ice sounded like an excellent idea.

"Wait guys, I forgot my cellphone at home," Naruto checked his pockets and his book bag again. "I'll meet you guys there later. It'll only take ten minutes, I promise!" He waved a small goodbye as he ran home.

The house was as tidy and clean as always. His mom was out at her women's group on Thursdays and his dad was at work. The sun was setting, its ominous glow tinted everything in the house with a shade of orange. He heard a loud crash coming from his room. The sound only increased and grew in frantic as he came closer. He crouched down and looked through the keyhole to his room. It was unclear but he could make out what was happening.

"I said bend over, dammit." His brother had taken someone by the hair and threw him on the desk, knocking his lamp out the window. Naruto's homework were scattered on the floor. The guy beneath Menma struggled as Menma ripped his pants off and pulled it down to his ankle. The guy struggled to stand, only to be shoved back onto the table again by his dark hair. He could hear the guy crying, and murmuring something about loving him still. Menma undid his own pants with one hand as he took out his cock. Without preparation, he shoved his cock into the guy's ass earning a tearful scream that shook the air in his room. He pushed in further, burying his heated length to the hilt until he can no more, and pulled back, only to slam into the tight hole again and again, repeating with more speed and velocity. "Stop crying and say you want my dick." As he pounded into the guy again. "Say it!" The guy cried and screamed out in pain. He slapped the guy in the back of the head.

"It hurt-s-.. Please, I love you, but I can't do this anymore…!"

"Say you want my fat dick in your man-pussy!" He pulled the guy's hair back and slammed his face on the table. "Say it!"

"I-I want your… Please, d-don't make me say it…!"

Kicking over an empty beer bottle, Menma pulled the guy up by the hair and threw him on Naruto's bed.

Menma raped the guy on Naruto's bed as Naruto watched in horror through the keyhole. His eyes were tearing up and he could not stop himself from shaking. He covered his mouth with one hand and breathed into it to keep from hyperventilating.

"Pl-please… someone save me…" The guy cried out as Menma assaulted his hole again. Menma came into this guy in a grunt as the guy buried his face in Naruto's pillow, crying his eyes out. Menma pulled out of him as he watched his own semen leak out from the guy's abused ass. Naruto could hear his muffled cry through the door. "Save me… somebody save me…"

_He loves his brother, but this is not right! Not right at all!_

A gut feeling told him that he must recue this person despite the fact that he must be on _his brother's side_. Naruto felt his insides boiled as he rushed in the door, fist in hand, he punched Menma in the back of the head. Menma fell to the floor and held his head in pain. "Aahh!" Seeing the opportunity, the guy wrapped himself up in his bed sheets and covered his entire body, including his face. He was too embarrassed to face anyone else.

Naruto proceeded to elbow Menma in the back while he was down. "You bastard!" Naruto flipped Menma over on his back as he straddle him on his chest. He punched his twin brother in the face with all his strength, spitting out each word as he land another punch, "You. Heartless. Fuckin'. Disgusting. Bastard!"

Menma shoved Naruto off with one arm. Naruto rolled on the carpet and landed on his feet, one hand balancing himself using the floor while wiping his mouth with the other. Menma also got up and wiped his mouth with his thumb. He looked at his thumb and found a trace of blood between his nail. That angered him. He rushed at Naruto with a punch as Naruto blocked by catching his punch in his hands then twisting it into a lock behind Menma's back. Menma kicked backwards with his right foot to trip Naruto as he fell backwards on top on naruto. Thinking quickly, Naruto rolled over on top on Menma by swinging over his thigh.

The twins were matched evenly until Naruto missed a punch, giving Menma the time to jump on top of their desk. Menma reached to pull Naruto's arm into a lock, but he too missed catching onto Naruto's arm as the force he used to pull brought him stumbling backwards. Naruto fell forward and accidentally head-butted Menma in the knee. Menma gasped as he was trying to stop himself from falling, but slipped on a pencil that was on the desk.

Clinging desperately to the air in front of him, Menma fell backwards through the window. Naruto tried to catch his hand as Menma reached out to him. Their fingertips touched, but it was too late. "Menmaaa!" Naruto watched desperately as his dark-hair twin fell out the window, his body bounced a few times on the pavement until it was twisted into a grotesque stop in a pile of broken limbs. Blood poured out slowly from Menma's head.

Menma kept his eyes opened as he was conscious through the fall. He felt the blood leaked from his head as his consciousness slowly faded; the fire that was once fierce in his eyes was beginning to burn out, like a cigarette bud that's once been discarded on the cold pavement.

He kept his eyes opened to look at the bloodstained green grass as a soft wind blew through the blades. There was a smile on his face. He was glad that, in the end, Naruto was the one who judged him—his judge, his defense, his executioner, and his life sentence. If fate had allowed him to choose whether him or Naruto should be the one to die, he would have chosen himself anyways. He had no more regrets in this world. _Except for maybe a last cigarette… Or maybe he might just have to leave this world with a small regret. Oh well..._

"Menmaa!" Naruto cried out again from the window. His twin brother was not moving and blood painted the pavement below.

The boy that was wrapped in Naruto's bedsheets dropped them as he pulled his pants up from his ankles and ran out of his room covering his tear-stained face. Naruto didn't know who he was and never saw him again.

()-()-()-()

Sasuke patted Naruto's soft hair as Naruto rested his head in Sasuke's lap. "And then what happened?" Sasuke asked sympathetically.

"And then I couldn't take it anymore. Everything at home reminded me of Menma… Sometimes, at night, I swore I could hear Menma talking on the phone, and when I opened my eyes, he wasn't there. It was just his bed… empty. He wasn't there, and—and I couldn't take it that he wasn't there anymore. If I had only caught his hand in time; I was a millisecond too late…"

"Naruto, it was an accident... And accidents happen."

"I feel like, one of us were—" Naruto paused to find the right word, "—_fated_ to die and it was supposed to be me—many times over, but… but… Menma was always the one there to rescue me, saving me from danger, over and over…"

"You shouldn't blame yourself, he was doing something bad, and you were trying to help."

"…but I never meant to kill him. I only wanted to beat some sense into him. And now—" Naruto buried his face in Sasuke's lap, "—I'll never see him again. " Naruto propped himself back up in a sitting position. He sat next to Sasuke, their knees touching. "I could no longer stand being at home so I moved out into this apartment. My parents supported my decision and gave me money every week. I avoided my old high school and enrolled into this one we go to now." He kicked an empty beer can and watched as it hit the wall in front of him. "I wanted to runaway from everything that reminded me of him, but I cannot bear to be part from him. It was as if a part of me had disappeared, been ripped away from me. I wanted to preserve what memories I had of him and embraced him as a part of me so that he could never part from me again. I…I miss him."

"Is that why you started smoking as well, and skipping school, and ya know… all _that_."

"Now that we talked about it- I guess I did that out of instinct, to keep him alive, but that was not the only thing I did." Naruto pulled up his shirt, it was that circular tribal style tattoo that Sasuke saw earlier. "I wanted to have physical evidence that would always reminds me of Menma, that we were born of the same womb, and were once connected by the same umbilical cord, thus, this tattoo on my stomach surrounding my belly button."

Sasuke was about to speak again, but his phone interrupted as it rang, changing the mood of things; its melodic sound served as a stark contrast to Naruto's story. It was no doubt that it was his brother calling. He took a look at the screen and put the phone on the pillow next to him without answering it.

"You should answer that."

"I don't feel like it at the moment."

"But your brother… he could be worried sick." Naruto can sympathize, having just talked about his twin in such a manner.

"He probably is… I'll apologize in the morning. Don't worry about it." Sasuke got up from the floor and walk towards Naruto's room. He paused in his step to turn back to look at him. "Could I stay here again tonight?"

()-()-()-()

Naruto fell asleep almost instantly as the night carried him off to dreamland. He felt like a great weight has been lifted off of him to get Menma's story off of his chest. He curled his fingers on Sasuke's wrist.

But Sasuke couldn't sleep.

Despite having been drunk after a wild partying night, thinking on the events of the night had kept him awake. He thought about what Naruto had told him and what he went through to get to where he is now. Naruto was strong, but he couldn't hold on alone by himself. He needed his friends: Chouji, Shikamaru, and now him. He felt like an important part in someone's world—In Naruto's world, and that made him smile just a little bit more.

He also remembered Nagato forcing his tongue down his throat and blushed at that thought. He looked over at Naruto next to him on the bed who was fast asleep, his pink lips moist and plump under the pale moonlight. Sasuke lean in closer to Naruto to look at those magnificent lips. He wondered what they would taste like. Would it be rough and wild like Nagato's or will it be soft and airy like Naruto's hair? They sure do look soft and moist. Sasuke licked his lips and smacked them together to moisten his lips, he leaned so close to Naruto's face, he could feel his breath on his cheek. Sasuke breathed out, and sucked in air through his teeth. Naruto's breath was steady, but his own heart was beating out of his chest.

_No._ He stopped himself.

He sat on the bed with the pillow behind his back. He ran his fingers through Naruto's golden locks, patting him softly as he slept. Naruto purred into his touch. He was like a small animal. He wished with all his might, that starting at this moment, he only wanted Naruto to be happy. Sasuke shouldn't bother him about the cigarettes again, if that was the way for him to stay sane, then so be it.

He watched Naruto sleep, until the night too came and claimed Sasuke's in a peaceful slumber.

()-()-()-()

Itachi slammed his phone on the table, almost hard enough to break it. Sasuke ignored his call again. He wondered if his little brother was safe. He wondered if he had put on an extra coat so he wouldn't catch the cold. He wondered if he was fitting into this world fine without his memories. His head hurt and taking acetaminophen did not help.

He looked over at a family portrait on the desk as he ran a finger over Sasuke's smiling image. Such lies. Such guilt.

He wondered if his decision to bring Sasuke into another world was the right decision after all.

Of course it was. What other choices did he have?!

He would have gladly kill for him.

Itachi squeezed his eyes shut as he let the hot water run down his back and into his now shorter hair. He brushed through his silky locks and he thought about the decisions that he had made up to this point. His thoughts went backward in time as snippets in his memories flash in his mind.

_The heart on the rice. Sasuke's mouth as he took a bite._

_Sasuke's shoulder as he caught him at the intersection._

_The quiet train ride to Tokyo._

_The money._

He harden his grip on the cold tiles in the shower.

_The kiss and the punch that followed._

_Sasuke's depression._

_The blank look on Sasuke's face as he woke up after 6 months._

_Those eyes—Sasuke's eyes reflecting its last brilliance as he lie broken and took his last breath in Naruto's arms._

Itachi gasped out loud.

It's been a long time since Itachi thought about what happened in the other life after they left as he must focus and concentrate on the immediate world.

He remembered he was up on a tree branch and hiding in plain sight using a simple genjutsu. He remembered the sound of his own heart breaking as he watched from afar and felt Sasuke's chakra signature completely disappeared. He hoped his jutsu worked. Itachi prayed and he prayed that this forbidden jutsu will take effect and work. He must buy some time, "Tsukiyomi!" His sharingan glowed as it covered the sky and changed the terrain as an illusion. He felt hot in his left hand in realization that the jutsu that he had casted previously finally has taken effect.

"I will not let my little brother die…" Itachi's voice echoed in the valley as a swirl of light took them away.

* * *

_To be continued…_

* * *

**A/N:** Next chapter will be Itachi's flashback in which we will be shown the first piece of the missing puzzle. Stay tuned!

I have a **new fic**! So far there are 2 chapters and it's called _"Bless the Hero". _It serves as a cool down (or heat up? Hahaha)from writing this fic. It's of the shounen genre and it has a lot of…uhg. Sex :) Mainly Mizukage abusing Sasuke. Bondage, dominatrix and all that junk cuz it's lovely ;) Don't tell anyone, but it has implied NaruSasu shounen-ai mix into hetero pairings (even though it was supposed to be a non-gay fic)! :0


	8. Kindness and Humanity

**A/N:** HEY GUYS! long time no updates! I was vacationing in Cambodia for Angkor Wat and Bangkok for New Years, thus, I was busy as heck! Major updates on my profile, so please check it out, especially fans of this series! Anyways, if you guys ever wanted to find out why I didn't update or anything, I will put it in my profile first! ^^ Don't ever hesitate to PM me as well. I'm nice and friendly, I promise! :3

Bless The Hero is on hold and I edited like 4000 words of lemon out because some mutherfudger decided to report me to ffn. *cry cry* =o=; When I add them back in, I'll let you guys know. While I was gone from this series, I wrote a 3-part fluffy Christmas fic. Do check that out too if you wanted something to read. I didn't like the lemon as much as I should though.

Anyways... This is one of those calm-before-the-storm chapters so don't sit too comfortably :) This is Itachi's flashback when they first arrived in this world, the details will proved to be important later on...

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**Chapter 8**

**Kindness and Humanity**

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_Perhaps in another lifetime… another world, _

_my precious little brother,_

_ my Sasuke, would be saved. _

_Maybe, he could even be…happy._

Itachi thought as he casted the forbidden dimensional transportation jutsu in combination with the prowess of his mangakyu sharingan. It was his last and only device, even though he couldn't completely grasped the coded message in the ancient scroll, for he did not in his possession have the rinnegan to understand the Rikudo Sennin's legacy. He concentrated hard with the hand seal straining against his hand muscles. His blood was boiling as he felt himself dropped on one knee and had to hold on to the tree trunk for support. He could barely hold his form and conceal himself as he perched high up in the trees. He was losing chakra, and _quick_…

Naruto was holding his little brother in his lap, their lips connected. Even though he had experimented with the latter display of affections with his best friend, Shisui, he winced at seeing the passionate display between males, especially his little brother and the nine-tail fox demon. However, it didn't change the fact that Sasuke was his life and he would love his little brother unconditionally even if Sasuke wanted him dead or worse. The important thing at hand was that Sasuke, his precious brother, was dying, if he wanted to kiss another guy, then so be it.

Itachi felt Sasuke's chakra signature faded as Naruto cried out his name over and over again grabbing and clutching to the younger Uchiha on the ground.

Luckily, Itachi also felt the forbidden jutsu taking effect as blood gathered from the back of his eyes and then pressed to the front to form bloody streaks down his face. His headache was massive. He closed his eyes and saw the light ready to take him away. He needed to act quickly before he disappeared to the other world without Sasuke.

"I will not let my little brother die!"

With the last of his visual prowess, his left his sharingan reflect in the sky turning it crimson red; a wind also picked up from the jutsu taking effect, wracking hell on earth as it carried both Sasuke and Naruto and himself into a swirling of white and yellow light.

Naruto held onto Sasuke's lifeless body as he tumbled backwards into the tunnel of light and saw Itachi staring back at him. He lacked the strength to fight Itachi as he was in a state of shock from everything happening so suddenly. Naruto had nobody to protect now. He thought about protecting himself, but couldn't see the point as Sasuke was his life. He clutched tighter at Sasuke's body vowing never to let him go. Naruto buried his nose at the croak of Sasuke's neck. He breathed in his scent. He kissed his shoulder. He let tears flow. "Sasuke… I love you…" The sparkling drops trailed away from his face like beads on a broken pearl necklace as he fell back with Sasuke in his arms.

Itachi reached out a hand to Naruto with urgency, but Naruto did not noticed, and if he noticed he did not care. Naruto only wanted to hold onto Sasuke even tighter, not willing to let him go even in death. Such sad eyes looked at Itachi as Itachi looked back with tears of his own. Itachi reached out with hands still shaking. Naruto flowed away from Itachi as Itachi reached out with all of his madness for Sasuke one last time, bloody tears streaked across his face. _Godammit._ He screamed Sasuke's name. Sasuke must come with him or else all will be for nothing.

Naruto and Sasuke continued to fall back further from Itachi as Itachi reached out and clawed in front of him for absolutely nothing at all. A final thought came to mind as Itachi was drifting away towards the light. He took out the forbidden scroll from his sleeve and unrolled it completely. He bit his thumb to draw blood, using it to write a circular seal on the scroll.

_I wish… I wish for the absolute perfect life for Sasuke. I only ever wanted my little brother to be… happy. Truly happy… even if I must sell my soul to the devil…_

"Kai!" He pressed his bloody palm onto the parchment and turned, creating a red circle on the scroll.

Giant bloody hands sprung forth from all sides of the tunnel of light to grab at them; their movements were ones not of this earth. The tunnel turned dark as if the light has been sucked out by the entrance of these monstrous things, these...beings, whatever they are. Their movements are lucid, swaying back and forth and reaching, not in a hurry as it they have all eternity, in which they probably do. Though they were covered in blood, it was not the type of gore one had had in mind, they were simply covered in blood because it was their nature, and these... _beings_ does not seem to bear malice as its movements were not out to harm them.

Itachi watched helplessly as Naruto fainted due to the intensity of the jutsu. They floated apart. His little brother loosened in Naruto's grip as he drifted down with the wall of light hoovering above him. Bloody hands reached for Naruto first as they pulled him into an opening without Sasuke. The opening swallowed him up and he was gone. Then a giant bloody hand reached and took a hold on Sasuke's body. It held Sasuke carefully as it pulled him into another opening; smaller bloody hands reached out from the opening to grab at Sasuke's legs. Within seconds, the younger Uchiha completely disappeared within those set of hands.

The largest bloody hand was in a fist. Wavering, it made its way from the sea of hands to Itachi, the one who casted the jutsu. It opened its palm to reveal a green eye with a mouth below it, twitching as it struggled to open its fingers up. The creature had no lips, only its sharp animalistic teeth and stagnant breath greeted Itachi as it appeared in front of him. Its eye movement was jagged as it regarded Itachi between its palm. It spoke. "Is that what you truly wish for?"

Looking at that thing with a harshness that Itachi had never done before, he demanded, "Yes, I wish nothing but for Sasuke to be alive and happy… truly happy… "He narrowed his eyes at the creature. "Make it happen."

"You think I, the Great Right Hand of Universal Equilibrium, would simply listen to a mortal's plead because he has called forth to me from my ancient slumber within the forbidden scroll?"

"I don't expect that, but for whatever price, I'm willing…"

The eye twitched up and down looking at Itachi's rigid form. Its giant mouth curved up in a comical smile. "Then I demand the payment to be your wretched soul. The sins that you hath and _will_ commit look mighty tasteful." It licked its teeth.

"Done." He spat without a second thought, even though he didn't like the option. "Only if you can guarantee Sasuke's happiness, give him the perfect life… I'm willing to do anything…"

"Never doubt my abilities as you have called me forth for your bidding."

"Then take me now!"

"Not so fast, mortal Uchiha, I will collect your sins in due time." It laughed. Fingers twitching in vibrations with the robust of its laughter. "But for now, go on… to this world and live…"

The fingers stopped moving around as the hand gripped Itachi and enclosed him in the middle of its palm. It pulled him into an opening dark enough to swallow light… and dropped him.

And he fell.

From the sky.

In the air.

There was an atmosphere.

He held onto himself across the chest.

As he fell.

And he felt something materializing between his arms.

And discovered that it was his little brother.

His body was warm and Itachi could feel his heart beating.

Itachi cried tears of joy as he braced the unmoving form while screaming thanks to whomever that hand was.

He continued to fall down by the harsh pull of gravity, stars hanging in the background as he fell relentlessly; dropping at a dangerous velocity and altitude.

Wanting to save them both from a certain falling death, Itachi formed a few hand seals for a summon to break their fall, only to find that it was completely useless. Nothing happened.

He can feel that this world has gravity that was greater than the previous as he was dropping at a much faster rate than expected. He also knew that the landing would not be a smooth one. He hung on to Sasuke as he aimed for the canopy of soft trees coming up below him.

He braced for the impact as he fell into the soft greenery with a roll down to the ground below. It helped to break the fall, but he felt powerless as he continued to roll on the grass below him, hitting a rock and felt his shoulder dislocated from its joint.

Itachi held Sasuke in his arms, protecting him from the fall to the best of his ability. He tried his best to maneuver with his years of training to land, but not having ninjutsu prevented him from a safe landing.

Another crack was heard as he felt his left thigh impacted on a large rock as he finally rolled to a stop with Sasuke still between his arms. Harsh wind blew across his face as he felt an unfamiliar prickle against the nerve of his skin. A slither of blood dripped down from his head and landed on Sasuke's cheek. One drop. Two drop. Three… This was unfamiliar indeed. The powerful Itachi getting hurt was not possible, at least, until now.

He tried to use his Amateratsu to make a nearby rock catch on black fire to test his sharingan, but that earned him nothing but an eye-strain and a terrible headache. He admitted that the laws of this universe were completely different and nothing that he had learned to survive in the shinobi world would be useful here.

His whole body was in pain as if every cell had been ripped from his straining frame. His shoulder was dislocated and his left leg was broken. Itachi did a quick check to make sure Sasuke was all right.

Sasuke had no viable traumas beyond his nakedness; it was like he was given a brand new body.

It was night time, and with a quick look around, Itachi realized that they were in the middle of a residential neighborhood where a bridge and a small river divided the two sides of the rows of houses and apartments.

He shook Sasuke's shoulder to wake him, but to no acumen, as he was still short from being responsive. Not wanting to have potential passersby to see his brother unclothed form, he hid him under the bridge by a low shrubbery.

Wasting no time at all, he limped onto the street to look for help. He figured that the evening was young even though it was dark in the sky, since some small residential shops were still opened.

"Mommy, look!" A little girl holding her mother's hand pointed at Itachi with a fascination in her eyes, "cosplayer!" The smiling pair of mother and daughter came over to his side, the little girl ran up to give Itachi a hug. He blushed discreetly, not saying a word, not sure of the proper way to behave in this world as of yet. He lightly hugged back, uncertain, feeling embarrassed to be hugging a random little girl at this ironic time-and with a broken arm.

The mother pulled out a device, that Itachi later recalled was this world's version of a camera, and took a picture of her daughter with the nice _cosplaying _teenager. "I love your costume and the blood look so real!" The mother and daughter waved at him as he waved back a good bye with his good hand.

Itachi figured as much that his clothes were probably inconsistent with this world's fashion and made a mental note to find something once he'd got a chance.

Looking for food was proved not to be an easy task as no one minding the shops would give him a trace of fresh bite to eat without thinking that he was bloodied from some kind of street gang related fight. Itachi finally settled for the trash can as he watched the restaurant helpers throw out their leftovers for the day. He scurried to the trash can and picked at whatever clean he could find to bring back for him and Sasuke. He needed to hurry up as Sasuke was naked and unconscious hiding behind a bush in a strange new world.

When he arrived, Sasuke was still in one piece and nobody seemed to have discovered him yet. Sasuke did not make a sound, but Itachi was glad to catch the rising and falling of his little brother's chest as he breathed. Itachi dressed Sasuke with the shirt off his back and pulled it down as much as possible to cover his lower body. It was the beginning of summer and it didn't seem like it was going to be too cold too soon. That night, he held onto his little brother as they slept under the bridge.

()-()-()-()

A day has passed since they first landed in this strange land. Hoping Sasuke would wake up soon, they stayed under the bridge while he tried to calm down and think of a plan to survive and to fix his leg and shoulder. Sasuke was still in a deep sleep and have not eaten yet, even though Itachi tried to put food in his mouth to make him chew and eat. Sasuke lay there on the grass refusing to come into consciousness. Itachi felt weak without his powers in an unfamiliar place. He felt dizzy from the pain from his leg and the lack of nutrients in his body. He drank from the river and tried to get Sasuke to drink, but he was still completely silent and non-moving.

Itachi kept telling himself not to encounter too many people and ask too many questions that might raise suspicion as to their identity.

_But Sasuke…_

Sasuke hasn't had anything to eat or drink for a day already and Itachi was powerless to save him by himself. He almost wished he was a medical ninja._ Almost._

Taking his chances and a leap in faith in humanity, he yelled for help when a moving vehicle passed them by. It was a middle-age man that was glad he could be of help and took the brothers to a nearby hospital.

The medical staff asked him many questions about where he came from and where he went to school. They asked about his parents and his medical records. They asked how he is going to pay for their medical care, in which they reassured him that he could pay off at a later time. They asked him many questions that he wished he could answer, but can only breathed out the words, "I don't know…," after each questions asked as he lowered his gaze to the hospital floor.

He had no currency of this world and no place to live. He lied to the people at the hospital that they were orphans with no parents and that their house burned down due to an accident, so that they have no money and the forms of ID that they asked for. A kind nurse came over to hug Itachi to reassure him that everything will be ok. The nurse cried, saying something about brave young men that were trying to survive on their own who were truly inspiring, and cried some more onto another nurse's shoulder. It was all a ridiculous scene in Itachi's mind as he knew it was all a lie. It was kind of true that they were orphans though...

They told Itachi that he could stay at the hospital with his little brother for a few days, but after that he will have to find another living arrangement, and of course, he would still own the hospital dues for patching him up and for overseeing Sasuke.

Itachi gladly comply with their rules. So far, things are going in a more positive direction. He hoped for the best, for Sasuke's sake. He combed his fingers through his little brother's soft locks. He was glad that Sasuke was alive.

()-()-()-()

After four days, Itachi left the hospital on his own, seeing that there were no places for him to stay. After all, it was only a broken leg and his life was not in danger. The nurse gave him her word that she would look after Sasuke and would call him if he wakes up. He didn't know what a _'call'_ was nor did he own this device called a _'cellphone'_. Itachi said he would come to visit once a day.

"But what will you do?" The kind nurse put a hand over his shoulder and patted it, a look of true concern on her face.

He balanced on the crutches they gave him as he lean on his good leg without the cast. The nurse told him not to get it wet. She waved him a goodbye and bowed as he left through the front door of the hospital. Almost as if this world was made of irony, rain began to fall the moment he stepped outside._ So much for not getting it wet._

He will stay under the bridge in the mean time and think of a plan. He sneezed at the cold as he bit into a half rotten apple he found to fill his hunger. He will stay strong.

It marveled Itachi time and again how Madara managed to pull off living in both worlds so seamlessly, a mystery that Itachi still haven't solved as of yet. His forbidden dimensional transportation jutsu was incomplete compare to Madara's specialty, but he was forced to use it for Sasuke's sake. He contemplated seeking out Madara in this world, but told himself_ again_ not to stoop to that level that he must ask that crazy bastard for help. He will survive on his own for now, looking for leftovers and living under the bridge and devoting all his free time to learning about this world.

He soon discovered that all his training as a shinobi were of no use here as everybody in this world seemed to have normal—_peasant_ jobs, instead of being ranked shinobis.

_For now…_ he thought to himself, he would be a wandering samurai looking to help people for a small pay. The idea was so romantic and heroic it almost sounded strange to the ex-Akatsuki member in his own head.

He went door to door knocking and asking if people needed his help for a small pay. Some would kindly decline, while others spat at him and told him to go away. He found that standing by the grocery store and asking costumers if he could help them carry their groceries to their car had the best results thus far. He had earned 830 yen so far. It was not going as well as he had hoped.

For the next couple of days he did the same thing. He saved all the money earned while looking for leftovers in the dumpster since it was free. He used all his free time at the library, as he had discovered, was a public place where he could read up on this world, and so he did, and sometimes on non-busy nights, he would stay and read until the late hours or until they finally had to come over and ask him to leave. He did this routine interspersely while visiting Sasuke during his visiting hours, every day, without failed.

()-()-()-()

Something had caught his eyes as he wandered down the residential streets. It was a small dwelling of a fenced house with a familiar family last name imprinted on a wooden block that hung vertically next to the door frame; "Uchiha", it said.

His heart was beating out of his throat as he thought of the possibilities of them being the same Uchihas or if they merely had the same strange last name as well. Curious, he followed his previous routine and knocked on the door. A shuffling was heard from the inside as someone yelled, "wait a moment please!"

An old woman in her 80's came to open the door and greeted him merrily. Her dark eyes, though aged and wrinkled, looked upon him with warmth and kindness and he felt a sudden relief, like all the tension he dammed up since he'd arrived was spirited away by the mere sight of her wrinkled lips in a smile. "Young man, is there anything this old woman and her husband can help you with?" She took his hand into her own, turning it over to look at it carefully. "Oh, such nice skin too, but you looked like you haven't bathed for days, oh dear!"

"Ma'am", he took his hand back as he stood up straight to face the kind old lady, "would you be interested in any help around the house or anything at all? I currently don't have a mean to survive but to make some small change in helping people out."

"Oh, let me see…" She turned around to call to the back, a man answered down the hall with a loud grunt. "He said if we needed help, honey!"

From his appearance, her husband looked even more aged than she was as he made it over to them by leaning on a cane. He even had trouble hearing as he kept asking her _"what?"_ and _"what's that?"_ over and over again as she explained to him about Itachi's proposition.

With a nod, the old man turned to Itachi with his hand held in front of him gesturing for him to take it. Itachi took it and the man shook it. "Follow me, sonny boy. I think I got something you can help me with."

"Oh dear, I will go make both you boys some hot tea and warm biscuits! We have a guest today!" She scurried to the kitchen with almost a skip in her step.

Itachi followed the old man.

The old man wanted him to help repair his bike, but instead of helping to fix it, he made it worse than it was before. The old man laughed and laughed and slapped his thighs and laughed some more when the other wheel came off as well. The old man and Itachi both stood watching as the entire frame of the bike fell apart in pieces right in front of them.

Itachi fell on his knees and sighed in defeat; the old man laughed and patted his back, caring less about the irreparable bicycle. In the end, Itachi joined in his laughter too.

The kind woman went beyond in her hospitality and drew him a bath without his asking. He graciously took her up on her offer as he nearly jumped into the warm water, making a splash. He heaved a deep sign as he sank into the tub of warm water. Haven't been washed in quite a while, he could literally see the dirt and grime coming off as the soapy water soaked into his skin. He undid his ponytail and washed his dark locks, letting them float freely in the comforting water.

After he had gotten out of the bath, the woman prepared fresh clothes for him. She said it was her son's old clothes that he could have. Itachi admire them. The couple gave, but did not pity, it was out of love and kindness that humans should have for one another. Itachi held the warm clothes in his hand and rubbed his face into it. So far, this world has treated him kinder than he had expected. They didn't even know his name, and he did not feel the need to introduce himself.

The woman motioned for him to sit down on a chair and he did so. She ran a comb through his wet hair and he let her. It was pleasant to relax and have someone to take care of you instead of always hanging onto life's edge for survival. This might not last, but he will enjoy it while it's lasting. She combed out all the knots in his hair and blew it dry for him. This was a new thing to Itachi as his hair had never been blown dry before. She combed it again and tied it back into a ponytail. He looked in the mirror. He was a lot cleaner and even his deep eye bags were almost non-existent. The woman smiled at him through the reflection and he smiled back. She placed a hand on his shoulder and he put his hand over hers. He felt human, a part of him that he haven't felt in years ever since the Uchiha clan massacre. It almost felt like it'd never happened. It was in another world, and all his past sins were forgiven. He clutched the old lady's hand as she clutched his shoulder back in encouragement. _If she only knew what he had done…_ He looked back into the mirror, he did not see the familiar monster that he was so accustomed to days after nights, but himself, Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's older brother, Mikoto's and Fugaku's eldest son, the clan's prodigy.

Itachi was desperately grateful when the old man's wife handed him a bento lunchbox, an umbrella, and shoved some money into his pocket. He refused the man's wife, but she insisted that he take it. He pushed her hand with the money away as she pushed back with a force greater than his own demanding he spend it on his little brother that was in the hospital. He finally accepted them with tears in his eyes and knelt in front of the kindly old couple, vowing to be in their debt. He bowed again, hitting his head on the pavement and bowed again. The couple stopped him from bowing as he launched into the granny's arms and cried into her shoulder and hugged her. She hugged him back lovingly like a real grandmother would.

From then on, he decided he will do everything to pay these two kind people back, even if he must seek out the one he'd been avoiding all this time. Itachi turned on his heels and ran down the street. He knew just the place.

()-()-()-()

In this world, he was like a child. He knew nothing and has nothing. He must learn everything all over again- and he learned to be afraid again. Perhaps for the third time in his life now, he was truly scared. First time being when Hanzo had ordered him to kill his entire family, second time being Sasuke's close-death experience, and the third time was now.

Standing in front of him, in all his wicked glory, staring down at Itachi as he dropped to his knees from the sight of the most powerful Uchiha of all times, the man spoke, "So, you have finally come to seek for me." He gestured for Itachi to come forth, but Itachi just knelt there with his hands on his sides, refusing to even look him in the eyes. "And I have been waiting for you, Uchiha Itachi."

Itachi's hands would not stop shaking as he grabbed the floor at his side to hold himself steady. It was Itachi who decided to seek him out. He needed Madara. He'd came this far. Finding his strength, he lifted his head carefully, not wanting to anger the man in the black trench coat in front of him with any sudden movements, he breathed out each word carefully, "Uchiha. Madara."

The man grinned from behind his closed lips.

"And how may I be of service to you, my _dearest _Itachi-chan...?"

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**_To Be Continued... _**

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**A/N:** This is my favorite chapter so far, so please tell me what you think as well. I really need some input as I feel like I have many hits on the fic, but hardly any comments at all. Is it really that bad? *o*;; I know my weak points as a writer better than anyone and I'm trying hard to correct them as this is my first fic, but still feel free to let me know if there are any major flaws I need to correct :)


	9. A Perpetual Fortification

**A/N:** What was supposed to be a 3k-word chapter, magically morphed, through the power of ninja chakra, sage chakra, and the 3-in-1 confusion chakra used exclusively by Obito/Tobi/Madara/wtf/bbq, to one with 10k-word that will span 3 chapters long. So I had to cut it in 3 parts. Sorry bout that but that just means more updates :) I scrapped and rewrote this chapter and the next 3 times T^T hahhahaa... Thank you so much for reading, even the lurkers. I finally noticed all these visitor counts that went straight to the new chapter and skipped through all the old ones. hehe. Thank you so SO much as I never thought in my wildest dreams that people will be reading _and_ following my junk. *bows*.

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As Sasuke was swept off to dreamland with Naruto in his arms, he felt the familiar prickling sensation of a certain night creature that would only come out at night from the depths of his darkest of nightmares.

_Scarlet fingers danced on his skin, all hundreds of them, marring it with the streaks of blood given off by the digits. These hands stretched endlessly without being attached to a living body. The hands grabbed at him with vigor, slowly pushing apart his skin and through his muscles until the nails of those creatures scratched at his bones. And they stayed there, plugged in, becoming a part of him; he felt the tips of those fingers giving off a certain life energy into his body. It was a white-hot pain, but it made him feel alive._

* * *

**Chapter 9**

**A Perpetual Fortification**

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Sasuke awoke with a startled as he landed on a pile of clothes. His head hit the ground as his arms and feet were thrown wildly into the air.

Naruto looked angry as he stepped closer to Sasuke, treading with each heavy foot step and fists at his side; his skin was heated to a red blush on his face. "Sasuke… You… You _bastard_!" Naruto's eyes traveled from Sasuke's face to his groin as he felt the same sensation of the blush traveled to his face, mirroring the color of Naruto's countenance.

In front of Sasuke's boxer briefs was a bulge, tenting his thin underwear.

Sasuke panicked in his mind but did not show weariness as to keep his cool, "So…?" He didn't know why he was hard at the time and why Naruto had thrown him across the room, either way, he doesn't want to know. "Is there something wrong with my erection?"

"Yes, oh _god_, yes, everything is wrong with _it_!" Naruto tried to throw a punch at his face, but Sasuke caught it with his hand. "Why were you pressing up on me in my sleep, huh?" He tried to throw another punch with his other hand and Sasuke caught it again, different hand this time. They faced each other straight on. "Do I look weak? Is that why? Maybe I should have never told you about... about… _Menma_…" He said the last word softly, afraid that he might disturb the dead. "It was not an invitation for you to... for you to—"

Sasuke threw both of Naruto's fists back at him. Naruto took a few steps back and fell sitting on his bed. "Naruto, you are acting insane!" However, Sasuke's inner thoughts were scolding himself of the same thing. His inner thoughts always scolded him of the same thing. "I was sleeping. I did not do jack shit to you! Is it against the law to be hard or something?"

"Were you trying to rape me?"Sasuke's eyes were wide with shock and puzzlement. "Well, I'm not your bitch! Just because I told you about myself, 't doesn't give you an invitation to take advantage of me in my sleep!"

"Rape you? I think there's been a mistake, Naruto. I woke up to you throwing me half way across the room! And I don't think I was ever told by my brother that I have a sleep-raping condition. Stop freaking out! God _damn_…" Sasuke turned and headed for the bathroom. He was done talking to Naruto about his boner—_and_ Naruto's boner. That tent that was also in Naruto's boxers did not escape Sasuke's observant eyes. He probably had a morning wood or something. Naruto was overreacting.

Naruto cursed inwardly at his own body's reaction. He was being immature and blaming Sasuke for it and he _knew_ it. It was his own problem, his own imaginations and insecurities accusing him of what happened when he first opened his eyes in the morning.

_It was 6:22am, the two boys were asleep in each other's arms…_

Naruto woke with a soft hardness that he'd never felt before pressed up on his abdomen. He opened his eyes gently, greeted by the cascading sunlight from his window that fell on that dark-haired someone's particular face. That someone was holding him in his arms, he was warm, and that person's particular soft hardness was pressed up on his stomach almost too hotly for coherent words to form in his mind. It twitched once against his stomach and Naruto breathed in sharply through his teeth.

It's not every day you wake up with your same sex _platonic_ friend's morning wood pressing up against you so intimately.

He would move and get dress, but he was currently trapped between a certain dark-hair boy's head on his arms and his one thigh swung over his body sideways, squeezing them in a very intimate body lock. Naruto felt the twitch on his stomach again and he gasped. He blushed and he realized if someone were to walk in right now, there will be no amount of explanations given to un-gay the given scenario.

But he didn't want to push Sasuke away…

There was something safe about being in Sasuke's arms. It was like two missing pieces of puzzle that have finally found the other—and they fit together so well.

Sasuke exhaled his breath; its warm air tickled all the most sensitive nerves behind Naruto's ear.

Naruto felt a nervousness swelling in his chest cavities as it slowly turned hot. He rolled his eyes up to look at Sasuke sleeping face. His lips were so perfect, he thought. They looked soft, yet masculine under the soft filtered sunlight through the curtains.

A wind sneaked its way in through the cracks of the window, leaving the curtains to flutter slightly in the breeze. The breeze brushed Sasuke's hair aside as they caressed Naruto's arm. He felt his heart skipped a beat. His body was so sensitive today.

His body has been particularly sensitive ever since he met the Uchiha boy.

Naruto felt Sasuke's hardness twitched again as he shifted in his sleep to crush onto Naruto from the top, leaving no spaces between their bodies for any self-composed thoughts to pass through. Sasuke's hardness pressed onto Naruto's own through their boxers as Naruto gasped out loud.

His mind was being pulled to all these different directions and scenarios. He felt frozen, in time—frozen by the blistering lava melting away at his tough exterior as he felt his body responding to Sasuke's accidental intrusion by bucking his hips forward involuntarily. He was hard, but he didn't want to make a sound, fear that he would wake the sleeping form right on top on him; Sasuke was so peaceful, so innocent, and yet, Naruto was laying under him bathing in lewd of these thoughts.

He felt Sasuke shifted again, brushing his erection across his already straining underwear. Naruto bit his bottom lip from crying out from ecstasy due to the friction. He grew unbearably hard as he tried to push Sasuke away with his hips, but only resulting in their hot members smashing closer and hotter together than they ever did. He gasped. A sweat rolled down from Naruto's brow, then to his chin.

Sasuke opened his eyes, looking straight into Naruto's own

Naruto screamed and threw him across the room.

_And that was what happened_, and Naruto could not bring himself to admitting that he loved every part of it.

()-()-()-()

The alarm went off but he let it rang. He had more important things to ponder. He furrowed his brows as he sat, watching his slowly fading erection in his own boxers.

He had enjoyed Sasuke's accidentally touches and was thoroughly confused. Naruto thought he was into girls, but now he has all these questions left unsolved and unanswered, and he wanted Sasuke to take the blame for it because he couldn't face it, and he was—_scared _of this new discovery. Everything was fine with these kinds of bodily reactions before today, but having feelings for the same sex would just complicate his life even more, especially when the latter was rubbing his "bodily reactions" all over his denying own.

He'd vowed to himself, in recollection, that a certain incident that involved one of Menma's "bright ideas" in the all-male sauna will never ever happen again in any similar forms or others.

–Or at least he'd hoped for in the best scenario, which was the ultimate un-complication of his life, which probably does not start with a penis pressing against his own in the morning. He was fine with having sex with girls; there was no need to bring his guy buddies onto his bed for sexual adventures and explorations.

Headache. All he could feel was headache.

Naruto heard footsteps approaching his room. His alarm was still ringing. Sasuke grabbed it with one hand and threw it hard against the wall. It broke. Naruto looked the other way.

"We are going to be late for school." Sasuke looked at him apologetically; he hadn't meant to thrown the alarm so hard. "I'm sorry 'bout the alarm. I could get you another one…"

Naruto didn't look at him. He felt guilty about his earlier actions towards Sasuke. Sasuke should just break all the objects in his room to get even, because that would certainly make him feel better. He didn't want guilt in his heart. He didn't need _more_ guilt.

He threw Sasuke his school uniform, "wear this one."

Sasuke caught it in front of his face. "But this is the winter uniform."

"Wear it."

"Won't you be cold?" He offered the uniform back to Naruto. Naruto shook his head.

Naruto took a step forward and picked up the red scarf that was on the floor. He swung it over Sasuke's neck and wrapped it around. "But… I don't want you to be cold."

Sasuke felt a hot shiver down his spine.

()-()-()-()

Sasuke dialed Itachi on the way to school, having been ignoring his brother's calls, but Itachi failed to pick up. He dialed again and with no luck. He dialed a third time, a little bit worried. It connected, but was hung up. And when he dialed again for the fourth time, the phone was turned off, a recorded message told him to dial again later. Maybe his brother was mad at him. That was the last thing he wanted. He probably couldn't live if Itachi never wanted to speak to him again. He made a mental note to call his brother again at a later time, and if he still hasn't picked up by then he would go home to check on his big brother.

The two teens ran towards their school more rapidly in their step as they hear the school bell rang from far away. They were short of their breaths, but feet continued to pad along the ground. They realized that they will never make it as the school was still around 10 minutes away up the incline behind a small hill.

They finally gave up in trying to make it on time and stopped at a convenience store to pick up some food. The clerk handed Naruto the bag.

They walked to school in an awkward silence, since there was no point in running when they were already late.

()-()-()-()

Itachi turned off his phone.

He needed his escape from this treacherous world and all that had happened in it, this world or the last, or which ever in between. It didn't matter. It didn't even matter that it was Sasuke, his beloved baby brother that was calling him, one who was finally reaching out to him after not coming home for two nights. It worried Itachi. He lost sleep. He knew that Sasuke loves him and he would eventually reach out to him if he set him free, but he was hurting. He felt like he was the only one hurting. Everything…. Everything he did was for Sasuke, but Sasuke was not right in his grasp to protect. He needed Sasuke to be weak and call out to his big brother, but he knew that was crazy because Sasuke had grown a mind of his own, no longer oblivious to the world. He'd lost this battle. He needed to win, but he lost. He needed to forget, but he remembered. He needed to escape, but he was trapped.

Itachi needed to run away from this world and the only key to the lock on his mental prison was by spreading and lowering himself onto a thick cock and letting it fuck him into an oblivion as he rode it to madness with his sweat-drenched back arched.

The one below him came impossibly hard, pumping his insides full with hot cum until the amount spilled in loads from his entrance, washing him of his sins from the inside out.

The one he was straddling reached a hand up to cup his cheek while brushing away a few stray pieces of sweat-drenched hair from his brow. His thumb caressed Itachi's cheek, then below his eye and over the ridge of his nose. Itachi kissed the hand that touched him while lacing his own fingers on the backside of the hand. The man below ran his fingers in Itachi's hair until they were tangled in the loose strands, but felt that the once lush and long hair that Itachi had kept had been cut short. "Why did you cut your hair? Does it have something to do with Madara again?" Itachi shook his head as the other cupped Itachi's face with both hands.

"Itachi, you are crying…" His thumbs ran over Itachi's eyes softly, ridding his long eyelashes with tears. "I'm blind, but it doesn't mean I couldn't see your pain…"

More tears fell from Itachi's eyes as the hands tried to wipe them away.

"Did I hurt you again? I'm so sorry for being so…big." His voice was soft and sweet, such punishable rewards to Itachi's merit. "You shouldn't have sat on me so hard…" His hands dropped to Itachi's bare thighs to rub soothing circling into the dips and curves of his muscular flesh.

"Punish me…" Itachi rolled them both around until his back was on the bed. His voice was but a harsh low, dangerous whisper, "don't stop…" He spread his legs wider for that body above him to wedge himself in even deeper. "Shisui…don't stop…", his voice was coarse with ferocity, "Make me bleed."

Perhaps then, could his sins be forgiven...

* * *

**_To be Continued..._**

* * *

A/N: I'm really happy about the Shisui and Itachi sex. *dancing-BANZAI-celebration!* I was gonna use it later on, but this was a good place for it :) I surprised myself!

PS: I will update again really soon :)

PPS: I have a silly new fic! "Welcome to Kishimoto-sensei's Therapy Sessions!" Kishimoto sat all the characters down to talk to them about their problems. It has weird and WRONG just plain wrong pairings, that's all I have to say hahaha. It's a humor parody. Just some random thing to past the time ^^ I also take requests for this fic :) Some fun silly thing on the side.


	10. Undercurrents

**A/N:** Too many rewrites on this chapter to count. And the silly thing was that I kept getting stuck on different versions of the ramen scene D;

* * *

**Chapter 10**

**Undercurrents**

* * *

Naruto's fingers were frozen as he clutched the handle of the bag of snacks from their earlier trip to the convenience store. He was shivering from the cold as he was inappropriately dressed to the weather, but did not voiced his complaint. _I'm a man, and a little cold will not faze me! _He thought as he held the bag tighter between his grasp.

That little display didn't go unnoticed by Sasuke as he reached out to grab the bag from Naruto's hand. "I'll hold it."

"No, really, it's fine." Naruto snatched it back. His fingers grazed Sasuke's own.

"Naruto, your hands are freezing." Sasuke tried to take it back but Naruto pulled back. He tucked on the handle and the bag was in his hand again. The warmth of Sasuke's touch did not escape his senses as he pretended not to feel its sweet intrusion. He took a deep breath to slow the speed of his heart beating out of control. _No use to complicate things._ He had to keep reminding himself.

"I'll hold the bags. You just keep walking alright?" Naruto walked in front of Sasuke, braving against the biting cold with a stern face. "Let's just get to school."

Naruto sped up; Sasuke tried following closely behind. Naruto's brisk walk turned into a march as he sped away uphill to where their school was without so much as looking back at the guy that was trying to keep up behind him. It was better to be as far away from Sasuke as possible... so that accidental touches that clouded his senses wouldn't happen again.

With each step taken, Sasuke could feel himself falling back into the endless spiral that was his depression; alive, trying to grab at him with each chance that it has. Naruto's back grew smaller as the distance between them extended. Just the thought of being separated from Naruto made him sick to his stomach and he didn't know why. All he knew was that there are two people that were the utmost importance in his life, one being Naruto and the other being Itachi, and that was it. Without them he was nothing but a shell with emotions too great to handle by himself. He felt his throat closed up as he tried to swallow his saliva; his breathing was hitched against the air in front of him.

Naruto took two steps for each step that Sasuke pushed forth; sweat broke out on his brow.

Sasuke tried to speed up, but his body was lacking in strength, seemingly, as if the source of his power was leaving him behind to rot.

He breathed in through his nose as he tried to catch up to the blonde. The image of Naruto was fading in front of him as it shook and blurred. He needed Naruto to acknowledged him. With what strength he had left, he reached out.

A hand landed on Naruto's shoulder, he looked back. It was Sasuke.

"Wait the f-uck up, s-speedy." Sasuke was panting to catch his breath. His face looked pale as cold sweat broke out on his forehead. His voice was hoarse and his lips were dried.

"Oi… Sasuke, are you ok?" Naruto turned around to face him now, holding Sasuke's shoulders up with both his hands. "Oi…" He shook his shoulders.

Sasuke collapsed in his arms; his cheeks were flushed. He was heavy against Naruto as they both fell to the ground with only Naruto supporting their weight by kneeling on one knee. "I… don't think so."

"What's wrong?!"

"I feel a little dizzy…"

Naruto places his hand on his forehead. He felt fine—except for that loud growling that erupted from Sasuke's stomach.

"I think you're just hungry…" Naruto sighed in relieve, he was so afraid something serious might have happened to Sasuke.

()-()-()-()

After convincing Sasuke to sneak into school anyways, they did just that, and even managed to steal some hot water from the school's cafeteria for Naruto's cup ramen. They stopped to hide at the corner when a custodial staff or a teacher walked by. They must get through undetected, fear that they might be dragged to Principal Sarutobi's office again. After bending through twists and turns, they decided to run the stairs to the rooftop. Nobody will ever think to find them there.

The air on the rooftop was dense with coldness that you can almost touch with the pads of your fingertips. The sun shone behind the clouds that parted intermittently to cascade down onto the ground of the rooftop, illuminating in spots and scattered blotches, highlighting the dents and cracks from its weathering state.

Sasuke breathed out as he sat down with his knees up and his arm leaning against the wall, his cloudy breath obscured the space between his and Naruto's faces before a wind carried it away quietly. He let his gaze traveled down from Naruto's face to the ramen bowl that he was clutching so tightly between his shaking fingers. He stopped eating to watch Naruto who ate his ramen quietly while braving against the cold. Sasuke felt his hand moved instinctively on its own as it traveled from the back of Naruto's neck to his far shoulder.

Naruto stopped to look at Sasuke with his eyes wide opened. He pulled back slightly at the sudden touch, but Sasuke curled his fingers to pull him towards his chest. Naruto almost dropped his ramen cup. He'd not planned on that happening again today-and so soon.

"You're freezing to death." Taking off his jacket, Sasuke wrapped Naruto into his arms for warmth while covering them both with the jacket resting on their shoulders. Naruto was still shivering as Sasuke took a hold of the side of his arm to pull him closer. "And you are too stubborn to realize it…" Their knees touched; he put a hand on Naruto's knee.

"Sasuke… what are you doing?" Naruto stopped eating as he kept his eyes on Sasuke's hand that shielded him from the cold.

Sasuke rubbed the blonde's knee, "You didn't have to give me your winter uniform…"

"But…" Naruto's heart was beating out of his chest again. _Damn you, Sasuke..._

"No buts… Next time, just wear your winter uniform… I'll be fine. I'm not made of glass. I'm made of flesh and blood."

Naruto looked over to Sasuke who now rubbed both his hands together to keep warm. Sasuke didn't eat anything hot, but had only grabbed a cold sandwich and juice from the store.

"Here." Naruto blew on the noodles between his chopsticks as another cloud of condensed steam obscured the short distance between them.

Even though he'd just finished eating his sandwich, the lardaceous smell of the hot soup noodles invaded his nostrils in a surprising way that made his stomach growl again. "Well…" The noodles were glistering under a spot of sunlight. It was almost beautiful. _It wouldn't hurt to try… _Sasuke opened his mouth as Naruto fed him a bite of the noodle. The noodle was still hot as it burned the side of his mouth. He slurped it slowly.

Sasuke looked hilarious as he was trying to slurp down the hot ramen. Naruto laughed.

"Here, have some more." Naruto fed him another bite and Sasuke gladly took it into his mouth. He could feel Sasuke warming up as the jacket began to heat up the air between them. He happily fed Sasuke some more noodles while blowing on them in between bites. "Do you like it?" Sasuke could only nod as he gulped down the rest of the soup merrily. He didn't even realized that Sasuke had finished his own food and Naruto's own before Naruto's stomach complained in its own version of the growl. He laughed nervously when the sound emitted from his stomach, "Well, don't worry about it, we could get food again later or something…"

"Oh… geesh, I didn't even realized… Oh, why, yeah… I'll get your dinner later." He blushed. "I'm sorry, I was just really hungry..."

"It's alright, I'm sure I won't die from skipping a meal…"

"I'll make it up to you, damn, I'm really sorry…"

"I said it's _alright_!" He emphasized on the last word, a little annoyed. "Geez…." He turned his head away from Sasuke. "It's not a big deal. I'm not a fuckin' girl."

A gust of wind hurled at them ruffling the loose blond strands in his hair; Naruto sank down lower to hide under the current. He was shivering.

Sasuke got up to take off the jacket from his shoulders. "Hey dude. You want your jacket back?"

"No, I'm not cold. You could wear it." Naruto lied through his teeth—his clanking, shivering teeth. He got up and moved his legs into a squat; he took out a cigarette to try to light it, but the wind kept blowing the fire out. He did not need Sasuke babying him as if he was a little four year old._ Want his jacket back?_ That's what guys say to girls! _Right?_ He finally got it to light when he felt a jacket being dumped on his shoulders.

"Hold your own jacket, I'm not your coat rack, ya know." Sasuke scoffed.

"Aren't you cold?"

Sasuke stood with his arms crossed in front of his chest. "I'm not a fuckin' girl… so no."

Naruto flung the jacket back at Sasuke who side-stepped coolly to let it drop to the floor.

"Take the scarf." He threw the scarf at Naruto, a bit miffed, who dodged to also let it drop to the floor.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I don't need your sympathies." Naruto threw his cigarette on the floor and stepped on it. He cracked his neck.

"Shut up, Naruto and take the scarf. You are so cold your lips are turning blue."

"And you are so cold you have icicles in your hair."

Another gust of wind knocked a few pieces of debris in their direction and they disregard it as it tumbled on the floor and off the side of the roof. The sun hid behind a veil of cumulus clouds as the sky turned slightly darker than before even though it was supposed to shine brightly this time of day. The air thickened as the air pressured raised. An unsuspecting snow flick landed on top of Sasuke's hair and slipped off to the ground. More followed the patterned as they hovered in the air above them, and as soon as a dusty flick landed on their skin, it was melted away by the flush in their cheeks as they caught each other staring, well-polished oynx into deep Persian blue.

They paused their gaze at each other and discovered that they were both right. This argument was utterly senseless and unneeded, no matter how small it was. But that's who they are

Naruto picked up the scarf and lazily wrapped it once around his neck. He was still cold, but would die before letting Sasuke know that he was _freezing _to_ death_.

Naruto's little display of bravado did not escape Sasuke's discern. He might have had traumas from his memory lost, but he wasn't not the least bit stupid. At least, he'd gathered this much from the weeks after he'd came out of his coma that though no previous memories were present, he was not a dumb kid to boot. He noticed in these weeks that even though he was plagued by the hellish depression that crippled his emotions, he has a certain way of understanding the world that made him see beyond the norm habits of the people around him. What was left was a version of Sasuke that had gained a pure understanding of the world with no bias.

He walked up to Naruto, and before Naruto knew what was going on, he was in a warm embrace. Sasuke had picked up his jacket from the floor and wrapped it around Naruto's shoulders.

"What are you..." Naruto blushed as he regarded Sasuke's eyes with pure awe that completely contradicted his words. "I shouldn't…" He was in Sasuke's arms in a frontal hug, their bodies pressed together. Naruto was suddenly reminded of the incident that happened in the morning, but he did not thought to make a scene or to pushed Sasuke off. His heart was beating fast. By gods, he hoped Sasuke wouldn't feel it.

"Shut up." Sasuke held him tighter around in the jacket. "Just shut up…" He whispered.

Naruto unraveled his scarf to wrap around themselves, still in Sasuke's embrace. Naruto pulled on the scarf that was wrapped around the back of Sasuke's neck, bringing those lips closer to his own. He was careful not to make brash movements. He could feel Sasuke sudden sharp in-take of air.

Sasuke felt Naruto's eyes burning onto his lips as they regarded him with hunger.

Naruto lean in closer.

Sasuke held his breath.

The blonde tilted his head as he lean in. He didn't know what he was doing as his own actions were out of the bounds of rationality and completely contradicted the whole battle inside his head from earlier on.

Sasuke, still holding his breath, squeezed his eyes shut.

Naruto darted his tongue out and licked the corner of Sasuke's mouth.

The dark-haired boy let go of his breath and opened his eyes wide in shock.

There was a small piece of green onion at the tip of Naruto's tongue. "I hate wasting food, especially ramen related items..." Naruto took a step forward, his breath was so close it was like fire on Sasuke's lips. Sasuke took a step back as he let go of Naruto in their embrace. He was dumbfounded by Naruto's actions, and can only feel Naruto's predatory desires that was increasing with each word that was being spoken. "I hate wasting food, but—" Naruto took another step forward as Sasuke took yet another back and tripped over a crack on the floor with his heel and toppled over on his bottom. He didn't make a sound of complaint but kept his wide eyes fixated to Naruto's lips as he held his body at an angle with the palm of his hands behind him. Naruto knelt down between his legs and licked his lips. "—I actually just wanted to kiss you…"

Their closed lips connected. Naruto made it happen as he pushed himself forward with his hand leaning on Sasuke's thigh for support. Like two pieces of flint rubbing together, a spark of heat ignited from the soft and innocent touch. Sasuke tilted his head and closed his eyes as he enjoy the warmth that was rapidly coursing through his body, depriving the much needed oxygen flow to his cells one at a time.

Naruto's fingers made their way up to the back of Sasuke's neck to bring him closer, and he complied. Sasuke relaxed and parted his lips as Naruto's hungry tongue invaded the warm cavities of his mouth. He wanted to taste Sasuke's tongue, all rationalities had left his mind. At this moment, he wanted nothing more to do with his inner-dialogues regarding sexuality explorations—he only wanted nothing more than to launch expeditions inside Sasuke's delicious mouth.

Sasuke tilted his head as he tried to copy Naruto by licking back with his own tongue. A moan escaped Naruto's throat. Sasuke sucked on Naruto's tongue as Naruto plunged in deeper down that sweet cavern, darting his tongue in and out of that hot mouth, deeper and deeper with each excruciating movement of his tongue.

Naruto pulled back to licked and suck feverishly at his upper lip.

Sasuke responded by nibbling on Naruto's bottom, prompting another sound of desire deep from the blonde's thorax. He felt a pool of heat surrounding his lower regions as the familiar sensation of his member hardening returned. He bucked his hips against Naruto and the blonde pressed down on him harder with his own straining erection. There was nothing left to hide from imaginations. The huge imprint of Naruto's member outlined the front of his school pants. He ground it on Sasuke's own shamelessly.

Sasuke choked back a moan, but he did not know how much longer he could hold it down. This painful and blissful new sensation that grabbed at all his thoughts to force him to submit. He gave in to its sadistic pleasure. He let go on squeezing his thighs together and let Naruto's body slide in further between himself, wanting to feel more of this desire.

Naruto's hand wandered to the back of Sasuke's pants and gave his ass a hard squeeze. Sasuke responded by rewarding Naruto with another buckling of his hips and a hiss from between his teeth. Naruto slipped his hand inside the back of his pants and let the tips of his fingers caressed Sasuke's smooth skin. He traveled down until his entire hand was on Sasuke's bare ass cheek, rubbing lazy patterns onto his flesh.

Sasuke tried to push him away—but _weakly_. His body was not of his control anymore.

Naruto wandering digits found the cress between his cheeks and ran a heated finger down the center.

Sasuke panicked to push him away—_harder _this time, but still kept their bodies busy with the sucking and latching of his tongue. His body gave in.

Finding Sasuke's wrinkled opening, he rubbed the rim with one hot finger that was looking to seek refuge within.

Sasuke gasped loudly at the strange sensation. He blushed a deep scarlet, burying his face at the nape of Naruto's neck.

Naruto put pressure on the rim as he rubbed the outside, alternating between circling and stroking it up and down with pressure that increased with each second passed. He wanted to feel Sasuke's insides so badly. Naruto's finger could almost taste it; Sasuke's tightness was begging to be touched and stretched as he felt the tiny opening released and clutched at his sizzling abuse. His finger tip had only grazed his opening—when Sasuke's cellphone's annoying, _son-of-a-ringtone_ interrupted goddamn _everything._

Naruto's hand retreated back as he knelt between Sasuke's legs with both hands on his knees. He kept his eyes on the ground.

Sasuke swiftly got out of his trance and recomposed himself as he reached in his pocket to take out his cellphone. It was Itachi. It was Itachi calling him and he will not miss this phone call for his life.

Naruto was left dumbfounded sitting on the floor with his legs crossed and looking to the side; a brilliant scarlet across his cheeks.

"Where are you?" Sasuke yelled into the speaker. "Itachi, where were you? Why did you turn off your phone? Nii-chan, are you ok?"

"Hey, Sasuke. I'm fine. Where are you?"

"I'm—" Sasuke looked at Naruto who looked away at a wall, "—just at school."

"I'll be home soon. Sasuke… I… _miss_ you. Will you be home today?"

"Yes, Itachi… I'll be home right _now_." Sasuke got up and dusted himself off with one hand. Sasuke hung up as he gathered things up, getting ready to go home. Naruto was caught staring at the ground with disappointment in his eyes. Sasuke reached out a hand and gestured for Naruto to take it, but he slapped it away.

"I could stand up by myself."

"Naruto…"

"I really embarrassed myself today. I'm a jerk... And this will never happen again…" Naruto got up and turned on his heel. "It's all my fault. I swear to you this will not happen again." He walked towards the exit. "I'm sorry..."

Naruto was about to leave him behind again. He felt his heart was being choked by all the veins in his body. "Naruto, no, wait! It's not—" Sasuke ran after him and grabbed his hand, pulling him back around to face him. He sighed. "Naruto… It's fine." He held Naruto's hand with an iron grip. "No, it's fine. You did nothing wrong. It's fine..."

Naruto's darted his eyes at Sasuke with embarrassment. "No... no it's not fine. That was a mistake. And it's all my fault. Maybe, I'm crazy. I'm not myself…"

"No, you're not! If you are crazy and not yourself then that makes both of us…" Sasuke held Naruto's hand tighter and pulled him into a hug; they gazed into each other's eyes; the soft winter sunlight reflected upon their irises. "I…. don't know what it means yet, but I liked _that_… It felt nice… and I would be ok, with it… and yeah…" Sasuke didn't know where his mind was going again. He didn't know how to put it into words. It was something foreign to him. All he knew was that he wanted more of it and only Naruto could give it to him.

"Sasuke, I… don't… ya know, I shouldn't… like _guys_. You _don't _understand..." Naruto tried to push Sasuke away and be freed of that embrace, but was held back tighter by the other. "Sasuke, you don't understand! I… My life is complicated and there are still things I have to figure out, and—"

Sasuke pulled him into a chaste kiss on closed lips. They paused, feeling each other's warmth through the joining of their soft lips. It was that instant—that nothing else mattered in the world, but only the kiss, a testament to their feelings for each other; it was pure and it was tangible. It did not lie. They gave in to the most primal part of human affections in that single, chaste caress. Sasuke parted from their lips to kiss Naruto's flushed cheek and he let him. "I just wanted to kiss you, if that's ok… Because…because it felt nice…" He ran a thumb along the curves of Naruto's chin, a snow flick melted under his thumb, "Why can't you just enjoy it? You obviously liked it..."

Naruto closed his eyes, wanting so bad to deny his feelings for the Uchiha, but cannot. Everytime Sasuke'd touched him he felt like he was made into another person. A person with all these hidden oppressed feelings that screamed for the Uchiha's attention. He wanted so badly to just be normal, but he knew that he was nothing but. He felt an unnatural attraction towards the one that was holding him in his arms. Naruto felt Sasuke's heart beating desperately, begging, like a presence that was crying out to be saved. He kept his eyes closed as he felt that soft brush of his kiss on his heated cheek; it sent blisters of nerve-shattering electricity crawling on the surface of his skin. If Sasuke wanted him to save him, he will give in to save him.

Sasuke grabbed the back of Naruto's head to pull him closer and he let him. He spoke into the nape of Naruto's neck. "How about…" He started out shyly, "if we figure things out together…?" He could feel Naruto's uncertained nod and smile on his own neck. "We don't have to tell anyone." He whispered. "Nobody else in the world will matter… It will just be us… it will be our world and nobody could stop us… Nobody will judge us… Nobody will know…"

The world was still and for a short moment there was silence.

Naruto widen his eyes in shock as a shiver prickled the base of his spine and into his entire body at hearing those eerily familiar words, as if he'd heard this speech for the millionth time, but had no memories of it ever been spoken. An innate and dormant part of him jolted awake as if his mind's eyes had suddenly been opened. A strange memory; there was no recollection of it, none that he knew of. The meaning of those words grabbed at his heart in an alarming way that screamed at him with guilt. Icy sweat broke out from the palm of his hands as if he could feel the word's physical form looming in his presence, surrounding him and breathing onto his neck. He squeezed his eyes close and he blinked for a mere instant, as he saw scenes flashed in his mind that was all but too real, all but too clearly—

_At first, it was the moving image of soft ruffling grass below his feet—but wait, those were not his own feet. He was not lying down, they were someone else's feet. He caught sight of a trail of blood that touched that marbled skin. His eyes followed the trail as it has gotten more pronounced as it reached up to the figure's covered thighs; the white shorts were stain with splotches of blood that told a story of utter violence in its markings. Then, he eyes continued to travel upwards as he came upon a chest rising and falling in a tottering, shuddering rhythm, covered by clothing that was once pure white, but now was stained with the same forceful display of crimson that had seeped through from underneath._

_This person was in his arms. He was warm, but quickly losing heat as he felt his own hand lifted to cup this person's chin. His thumb brushed across his quivering bottom lip as the person was speaking, but as if the world was in a vacuum, nothing was audible, not even the rustling of leaves that were blowing violently beside them. There were only the sounds of his heart pounding heavily within his ears as the person mouthed those inescapable, forbidden words. _'Nobody will judge us… Nobody will know…"

Naruto blinked.

He was back again on the rooftop with Sasuke holding him in his arms. The coldness bit at his senses.

Sasuke placed another kiss on Naruto's other cheek, and noticed the distraught boy's shiver as his face turned pale.

"Naruto, what's wrong? We can take it slow… " Sasuke broke away from holding onto him, seeing how Naruto's reactions might have signaled his forwardness as a misunderstanding. "I just… I felt really good when I'm with you. When I'm with you, the part of me that was empty was no longer empty… I don't know how to explain…"

"Sasuke, it's not that…"

"Then what?" Sasuke wanted an answer from Naruto. He wanted to know how Naruto feel about him. Naruto, the only person that could fill that last missing gap, that can put a lasting halt to his downward spiraling of loneliness. Naruto's touch can mysteriously do that.

"Let's get you to the station. Your brother needs you."

The walk to the train station was silent. Sasuke tried to hold Naruto's hand a few times, but the affection was not returned as the other's hand retracted every time he grazed his fingers with his. Maybe Sasuke'd done something wrong. He looked at the hand that touched Naruto's and then sneaked a peek at Naruto's face.

There was something in Naruto's eyes that had changed. He was concentrated on a particular thing and was not letting Sasuke in on it.

Naruto kept thinking about the imagery. It was so real and it was so intense. He did not know what to make of it as he kept it in silence from the one walking beside him, not noticing the pain in his eyes.

()-()-()-()

The short walk had led them to the train station.

Sasuke turned to enter the train, but his wrist was grabbed by Naruto, who flung him back to face him. Naruto took a step forward and planted a quick peck on the tip of his nose that resembled the touch of a feather swiftly being blown away. "Sasuke, don't think too much about it. Let's talk another day, ok? I promise." Naruto looked around to see if anyone had seen that.

He took a step backwards into the car. The door slid to a close in front of his face as the noise inside the car was shut off to the platform.

They regarded each other as the train started to move.

Sasuke breathed onto the glass window in front of him, fogging up the area in front of his face. With his finger, scribbling quickly, he drew the shape of a heart on the glass.

Naruto's smile turned the corner of his lips.

Sasuke touched his lips with his fingers. _Yes, it was real._ He smiled to himself. They'd kissed.

But Sasuke couldn't figure out why Naruto seemed ashamed to show his feelings for him at the station.

()-()-()-()

Sasuke felt a darker part of himself died as the memories of the past few days washed away the empty shadows of his loneliness. He was no longer alone, and he was no longer afraid of the unknown. In the small amount of memories that he owned, he felt himself kept holding onto this one and replaying it over and over again in his mind.

He touched his lips again to remind himself that a part of him was given to another who adored him, even though the other could not bring to himself to admitting it because of his own inner turmoil. He felt a certain sadness for the blonde as he couldn't understand why he cannot just give in peacefully to something that was so blameless and pure, that such feelings could only be compared to the first of the morning snow, but warm like the last summer sun.

He had arrived at his home as Itachi scampered to greet him at the door, almost slipping on the wooden floor as he was in his socks. His older brother held him in his arms; his fingers tangled in his hair in the back of his head. "Sasuke… I really miss you. Where have you been?"

And Itachi held him ever so tightly, seeming to squeeze the last of his air from out of his body.

He saw his brother cried a tear before it was wiped away by his hand as Itachi turned towards the kitchen, carefully in his step, he brushed pass the pictures on the wall as he walked. Sasuke noticed that his hand lingered on a particular picture for a split second more, wiping at a particular spot with his finger as if there was a speck to be cleaned; his brother continued on towards the kitchen without so much as to acknowledge that spot.

Sasuke followed behind in Itachi's footsteps as he wonder why the wooden floor was so cold as they could have easily gotten rugs for the hallway and living room, but there was none of that. He stole a glance at the picture his brother was touching. It was a picture of themselves; Itachi held Sasuke's shoulder as Sasuke proudly held up a trophy of some sort. The mark was brief and was barely even noticeable, if Sasuke hadn't caught his brother lingered on the frame, he would have never noticed. There was a smudge of redness dried across the glass—right on top of the Sasuke picture's smiling face.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the picture.

Something stood out to him that he hadn't noticed before.

* * *

**_To be Continued..._**

* * *

**A/N:** Please read and review! Your encouragement keeps me updating more. Come out from lurking! I know where you live (no I don't). I know, I know... the story is still in development right now and I'm trying my best to introduce them still. Say hi to Shisui, everybody.

_"Hi Shisui~",_ everybody said.

_"Hi everybody, I'm blind."_ Shisui said.

_"Aww, that's so sad!"_ Everybody said.

_"But my junk is huge!"_ Shisui said.

_"Yay!"_ Everybody said.

And now that we are all acquainted...

I have a separate "fic" with the ***bonus ramen scene*** that I scrapped from this chapter from one of the rewrites, because WTF?! That was gonna really be in the chapter. And that would have been the end of this fic as we know it. *sigh* D': I can't help it if I'm a funny person that likes dark themes! Does that make me a killer clown of sorts? O_O

**Link to the fic is in my profile**, as I found out the hard way that you can't link from the chapters =o=;

_**And also, I will update more on "Welcome to Kishimoto-sensei's Therapy Sessions" cuz oh gawd, I'm just a terrible person~!**_


	11. Threes

**A/N:** OMG. SO. This was probably the longest I ran without updating PIAL and I'm so so so sooooo sorry for that. I've been traveling and meaning to find time to write, but it was just not happening, the jet lag, the lack of computer, and etc.

Also, a note about the cigarettes. I know that it seemed like I had romanticized the cancer schtickz, in which I had, but it was done in part of the metaphor throughout the story, if you haven't noticed already. It stood for different things in different situations: foreboding Menma's death, Naruto's lingering guilt and degeneracy, Sasuke's displeasure with it, and especially how the cigarette bud had dropped on the floor in different situations meaning different things…AMONGST OTHERS. I feel like if I must explain all the symbolism and metaphors and _hints_ that went into it so far, I might be undermining my readers, so just read and enjoy them if you catch them… I tried my best! :D

ANYWAYS, ONWARD! :D

* * *

Details are _funny_ things.

Details make everything physical and memorable. Everything could be details, from the way Itachi lean a little too heavily on his right leg when he walks, to the particular way his fingers curl when he taps on the back of the magazine. These are all details, but not the _funny_ kind of details that changes you, that makes you think; kind that would question your existence. Details so small, that once you noticed, you will need to prep your anus generously with lube, because bricks will be shat.

Sasuke noticed the detail, more specifically, a very small, very particular detail that he noticed in a random picture amongst all the pictures in the house. He had noticed the detail of Itachi's prolonged lingering on that particular picture, whether he was conscious of his actions or not.

Sasuke looked, and something was different, or perhaps to say, something that he'd never noticed before until now. In the picture, a healing gash was visible on Sasuke's right shoulder and it was long (and looked quite deep). Sasuke smoothed a hand over his own right shoulder (and his left, just in case). No gash. Nor does it bear evidence of it ever having been hurt before. A slight panic had set in. He ghosted his hand over both his shoulders again. And then he turned his head down to look on his shoulders while pulling down both sides of his collar. Nothing. Not even a mark was visible on either of his shoulder.

For as much as he knew about cuts (deep cuts), there will at least be scars. Itachi had told him about his dislocated shoulder and broken leg, and there were definitely scars, but there was nothing on Sasuke's shoulders. Like he was a completely different person.

Itachi called out to him from the kitchen.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the Itachi in the picture. Thoughts of misgiving plagued a vein that kept his heart in beats. He knew for a fact that cuts like that does not just up and disappear, even if given enough time, they were scars for a reason.

He decided he will go to Itachi and acted as if he was oblivious as he was a week ago, and wished that he was dead wrong in the plausible scenarios that played like movie screens in his mind.

The first scenario: There is _another _Sasuke.

Running on that tangent, these were the questions that he'd asked himself: The obvious, "_Is there really another Sasuke?"_

A little voice told him that maybe he'd gotten hurt before and his shoulder healed without scars and he was freaking out, out of nothing. Or maybe he'd gotten some super reconstructive surgery that made his shoulders scar-less. But no, these theories do not add up.

"_What about the other Sasuke? Where is he now?"_ And _"In_ _what ways can another Sasuke exist?"_

Twins. Twins, like Menma and Naruto? And there was also the possibility of Sasuke making up the whole "twin"-thing in his head. He tried to think of ways for another "Sasuke" to exist without him being a twin, but cannot grasp in his immediate panic to find another plausible theory.

Also, there was this second scenario.

The second scenario being: There _was_ another Sasuke.

…Which was still a grime piece of hypothesis to his theory, because everything in the first theory would still apply, while the second scenario's implied _"was"_ crawled up his skin and rose more than a few goose bumps in its afterthoughts.

Evidence also supported this claim.

The questions Sasuke asked himself regarding the second scenario were: _"What happened to that Sasuke that was here then?"_, "_Why do we have an empty house with pictures of people that look like us?",_ "_what happened to those people in the pictures that are not in this house anymore?"_ and_ "How did we end up at this house (and we just so happened to look like those people)?"_

And finally, the dreaded third scenario: Sasuke is a nut job, _crazy_. He had imagined everything and was beyond paranoid. Just like the doctor that had told him about the nightmares that would eventually go away, but didn't. Could this be one of the after effects of his memory lapse?

He asked the following questions in the third scenario: "_So, if I'm crazy, how come my thoughts are (mostly) logical?"_ And "_If I'd imagined everything so far— what was real and what was fake?"_ And, "_What caused the lost of my memories? Was what Itachi told me real?"_

Sasuke suddenly felt his insides boil sick with paranoia.

Overlooking all the scenarios, though there could be discrepancies, Sasuke could safely conclude that all three theories can exist together and each would support the other—and that was the _good_ news. The bad news: something was definitely suspicious about Itachi's lies.

All evidences point to this: Itachi is hiding a huge secret from him and that secret has S_omething_ to do with _Everything_.

Sasuke took another step towards the kitchen.

Itachi smiled at him lovingly and directed him to sit down at the kitchen stool.

…_But he also knew that Itachi loved him and that was most definitely not a lie…_

If only things were simpler.

* * *

**Chapter 11**

**Threes**

* * *

Shisui had offered him physical comfort in the form of sexual punishment to his body.

Punishment was comforting because Itachi needed the punishment for the wrongs that he had done. And nobody else could punish Itachi as Shisui did, so Itachi used him, and Shisui, though knowingly accepted his disregards, gladly obliged.

Love was a painful thing to master when one was blind, _really_, literally blind, so one could only bow in slavery to it, and on top of that, _blindly_ in love, and lost in a new world where the only compass available was a stiff erection pointing North. And one could never really be lost when the compass did its job well, but when one was blind, he must physically feel its directions, whether the directions be north, south, west, east, south east, _and by gods_, upside down, or inside out—as long as the directions can lead down a road of discovering one's self that was buried deep inside another.

Shisui had found his way home, and Itachi was immensely satisfied.

_— in some form of self-gratifying, sick, damning way..._

"Itachi?"

His little brother entered through the kitchen door, but did not immediately sit down in front of the sandwich that Itachi had sat upon the table as a snack. He circled around his chair while keeping his focus on his hand before plopping down on the kitchen stool.

"I thought you like sandwiches."

Sasuke sat down and took a bite.

Itachi watched as Sasuke took a bite, and then another.

Sasuke mindlessly ate through the whole sandwich. He only stopped when he had finished it and wiped his mouth of the crumbs with the back of his hand as he looked at his plate with a blank expression.

And then Itachi hugged him.

At first he was startled, but then he lean in to feel the warmth of his brother's arms. They were different than Naruto's arms. Itachi's were much stronger and longer, holding onto him with a certain strength from within, while Naruto's arms were almost too soft for the touch even though he was ripped with toned muscles underneath his clothes. Itachi held him lovingly.

"Sometimes, I feel empty inside." Sasuke whispered at Itachi's nape as he thought upon his recent theories. "And I don't know what is real anymore…"

"Me too." Itachi felt Sasuke's tears on his skin as he too cried. His tears trailed down onto his little brother's forehead and then the bridge of his nose. Something unspoken was understood between the both of them, that something needed to be resolved before it was too late, but neither was about to give in. Neither was about to give away what they knew—_especially_ Itachi.

Sasuke didn't want to ask him anything, right now, he just wanted his big brother to tell him that everything will be okay. He only wanted his big brother to love him. Itachi loved him, and Sasuke was scared to find out about the lies. What if that would cause Itachi to stop loving him? He cannot have that.

The brothers had fallen asleep on the couch, Itachi held sasuke's head in his lap and ran his fingers through his silky tresses. Sasuke slept peacefully after he had mentioned but a couple of sentences regarding his nightmares about the bloody hands. Itachi reassured him that it was nothing, and could gathered as much from his retelling, but refused to let Sasuke in the _know_. There was no need to. Sasuke was alive, and possibly pleased that he had found a friend and had had the nerve to leave his brother for nights before coming back, and in turn, Itachi had had his lust secretly filled for good measures. To let Sasuke even tip his foot in the direction of Know would /might possibly bring dire consequences that he yet cannot foresee.

And per scheduled, he would lie even if when he was caught.

The next few days, Sasuke went to school from his house and wore his winter uniform for the first time. He had to admit that he was wrong about what a normal uniform would smell like until now. He concluded that the new uniform does not smell like old cigarettes. _Naruto's cigarettes…_

For the first day, he didn't see Naruto and had only seen him briefly after school as he was walking away from Sasuke, even though Sasuke was sure that Naruto had seen him coming. Sasuke called his name, but was ignored. Maybe Naruto didn't see him.

The second day, he had ran into Naruto in the boys bathroom where their eyes met. Naruto had pushed past him quickly and dashed down the hall and into his classroom where he was not seen again for the rest of the day. That had felt like a slap to Sasuke's face.

The third day had grown increasingly awkward as they were forced to pair together as partners for gym class while refusing to exchange nothing but a few words to each other and had scored an earth-shattering low in the Teamwork mark. Sasuke had wanted to say something to Naruto as they were changing in the boys locker room, but the situation did not help itself as they were surrounded by other males getting naked and changing, further polishing this increasingly awkward situation to the point of _unbearably_ awkward. Naruto had walked out on Sasuke while brushing past him between the lockers and the front of his body. Sasuke had held his breath.

It was the third day when Sasuke decided that he must corner Naruto to get some answers, and decided that it was best to make contact with him at the place that he frequented most: The weekly _6 __Paths of Pain_ live, that he could bet his right nut on, that Naruto will not miss for the world.

It was not Sasuke's personality to be so forward as he reflected on his decision while leaning against the door inside the train car, but then again, what was Sasuke's personality? He had to start from scratch, without memories in helping him prevaricate, doing everything without regrets and live with no hold bars. The train car had arrived at the station and had come to a halting stop.

And Sasuke held onto the bar above him to avoid from falling down.

He patted his uniform jacket of the snow that had fallen on him as he exited the train.

Again, he was not dressed to the occasion, but only decided to show up at the concert in his school uniform, which he himself deemed acceptable, seeing how he did not make the decision to stay and enjoy the concert later, but rather, just to be in person to talk to Naruto and get some kind of words from out of the blonde in regards to their situation. It had just dawned on Sasuke that he and Naruto have a _situation _now.

He hated it, every part of it, and most of all, Sasuke hated thinking back on every caress that Naruto made while his fingers danced upon his flushed skin, leaving fire in their tracks. That way that soft kiss had moved about, and the way Naruto's tongue seem to tango with his like a pair of skillful Spanish _bailadores_. He hated the red scarf that was currently around his neck rendering nothing but Naruto's odor… He hated... Oh _gods_, and the way Naruto had held him in his arms to keep him warm while looking at him with those deep blue eyes, how absolutely_ hateful_ that was. He hated this Situation that must be made into a Situation (by Naruto, and it was all his fault, of course), when this so-called Situation should not even have had existed in the first place.

He hated it. He loathed it. He hated himself. He hated everything. He wanted to scream. He hated the floor. He hated the ceiling. He hated that damn trash can at the station as he kicked it in. He hated those people at the station that had stared at him like he was a crazy person who'd just potentially escaped from the loony bin. And then, he hated his pure heart that was made a fool to believe, and he was not about to take it without Naruto even breathing a word of explanation on his ridiculous actions.

So the first thing he did when he saw Naruto after the concert was landing a punch straight into his face.

Sasuke remembered he told that bastard that orange was a terrible color for an eye shadow, but he didn't listen. Sasuke punched him again in his stomach. That latter one was for not taking his advice.

A crowd slowly gathered as a fight was sure to break out.

Naruto was lucky to have friends because it took both Shikamaru and Chouji to hold the crazy person back from screaming and punching Naruto's lights out. Naruto held back and did not retaliate.

"Naruto! I demand explanations!" Sasuke broke the hold from Shikamaru's arm with a hard shove, the red scarf around his neck flopping wildly behind him. "Do you like playing with people like that? Is that what you do?"

Naruto patted his jacket down as he wiped his nose with the back of his index finger, blood appeared to be seeping down after that hard punch. "Sasuke, calm down. You are drawing unnecessary attention."

"Oh no, I think I'm drawing all the most necessary of attentions in this life and the next! Naruto, are you just playing with my feelings?" The crowd grew thicker as people began to talk from ear to ear. A pair of twin girls with long curly pink hair and leopard boots giggled and pointed to Sasuke with their friends. Soon, everyone was doing the same. "Wh—why did you ignore me…?" Sasuke's hand reached out, "Why did you turn away?" wanting to get a grip on Naruto's jacket when the blonde took Sasuke's hand and shoved him to the floor in a single motion. Sasuke fell firmly to the ground, with nothing to hold on to.

"Uchiha, don't you know when you've been toyed with?" Naruto said matter-of-factly, staring down at the new student from where he stood, his shadows loomed over the one with his brand new school uniform covered in dust. He said slowly and calmly. "I was bored and wanted to see if I could make a guy fall in love with me, and…" He trailed off, not bothering to finish the sentence as the meaning was clear to both parties. The crowd gathered closer to listen to the final blow.

Sasuke shivered. He clutched the ground beneath him. He felt like he was sinking, gripping at the ground with his fingers for purchase, trying to find his bearings, he cannot sink lower than this. _It's not possible…_

"I'm sorry you thought I liked you or something, but I think you should stop thinking about me and go home." Naruto's words were clear, spoken without a hint of sympathy or remorse. "And you can keep my scarf, I don't really want it back after you'd touched it..." Naruto lowered his voice as he trailed off at the end. And then Naruto spoke the three words that had decided Sasuke's fate, while staring right into his shattering soul.

Sasuke could only see the movements of Naruto's mouth speaking the words as everything around him had muted away.

Sasuke thought he couldn't have sank any lower than the ground, but then, his tears fell, and he fell with them, in through the hole that was ripped empty from his bleeding heart.

_It's just not possible…!_

The way Naruto had mouthed the words shook and blurred in his vision as they played repeatedly in his mind's eye, mocking him. There was laughter that surrounded him as he felt his tears pooled at his chin. Everyone was laughing. It was _funny_. His hand moved up to cover his quivering mouth in disbelieve. And his tears didn't stop, as he let them flow freely onto his face and onto his hand.

Through the thin cracks between the crowds, two curious persons watched calmly as a smirk drifted upon one of their curved lips. Nagato threw a cigarette on the ground and stepped on it with his heel as he turned to leave; he didn't leave it to burn out on its own. Yahiko followed behind.

()-()-()-()

Sasuke walked mindlessly down the streets, turning at the back alleys, without so much as thinking about what dangers that might lie ahead behind the dark corners. His hands shook as he felt the mossy sweat on the walls. He brushed past them. He needed something to hold on to and the cold walls were his only comfort.

Snow began to fall as he hugged himself with both hands while leaning against the wall. He felt his tears began anew as he thought back on Naruto's once warm touch, his radiant smile, and the way Naruto's soft hair had felt on his cheek while he slept in his arms. These memories were like scenes from an old movie, its vibrant colors fading and Naruto's face began to flicker and blur.

His feelings for Naruto gutted him in the heart like a frozen blade as he felt another wave of pain rushed to severe his rib cage. Emotional pain was real, he realized. Sasuke fell to his knees, his vein turning to ice in front of the teary veil over his eyes. He looked at his hand, the one that Naruto shoved away. _It hurts._ He closed the hand into a fist to stop his hand from shaking. He couldn't stop his tears from flowing as it was his only relief and comfort. They know of his pain. They became the only thing that was physical. Pain was real, if nothing in the world was—Pain was.

He cried louder, sobbing into the wall at his side. What was there to hold his pride? Nothing. Nothing mattered at this point. He slammed his fist into the wall, not flinching a brick. He hated this wall. So he slammed his fist into it again and again, cursing with tears flowing down his chin and into the snow. He slammed on the wall violently, until his hand was covered by his own blood and was the snow next to his knees. It hurt, but it didn't hurt as much as the hole that Naruto had carved out with his dispassionate blue eyes; the way that Naruto's narrowed eyes had bitten at him, making him want to crawl into a cave and die.

He let his bloody and broken hands soak into the snow and watched as the purity of it turned into crimson. What a relief. How beautiful. How simply pure his feelings for Naruto was that it could be painted as such, this grotesque display of sentiments. Naruto had made him whole, and he had taken everything away, even more so than before he had met him, and he had done so so brilliantly with only the three words that escaped between his smirking lips, _"I hate you."_

Sasuke screamed.

He thought no one was watching his wild displays until a pair of shadows appeared behind him to grab his shoulders and yanked him to his feet.

Sasuke gasped and held his breath as the two shadows pulled him into their arms to hold him still. He tried to struggle, one of them backed off, but the other one wouldn't let go. He felt the muscular arm of the man expand, while squeezing all the air out from his lungs through his smaller frame.

The man lifted Sasuke's chin with his calloused fingers and looked piercingly into his teary eyes.

The hum of the street lamps resounded incessantly as the pale yellow light reflected upon the man's bright violet eyes. He was no stranger. It was that, 6 Paths of Pain, Nagato holding him fully in his arms.

"We saw what happened and followed you." Yahiko leaned against the wall. "It's honestly no biggie. Everyone had had his heart crushed at least once in his life, am I correct, Nagato?"

Nagato breathed into the air in front of him and let out a sigh. He chuckled. "I would know, because I _am_ the master of Pain, and the master will always be a slave to his bondage. And mine was…" He paused on that thought and continued coolly. "We all have our weaknesses. One just needs to find ways to deal, whether it might coincide with the way our society think or _not_."

"And that is…" Sasuke spoke softly, but with a hint of regression.

"Why don't we find out together?" Nagato whispered into his ear as he tightened his hold. Sasuke felt something hard pressed up at his front. "Now that we know, that you too fancy the same gender…" Nagato made the bold move of sneaking his hand in front of Sasuke's, rubbing him through the thick fabric that was his school pants. "And we think you're cute."

Sasuke felt a heat brushed up on his face as he felt another person toddled behind him with something hard against the crack of his ass. That person reached around his hips to make circles around his waist, his thumbs kneading him in the meaty part of his butt.

Nagato reached lower, nudging Sasuke's legs apart with his knee to make room for his hands reaching for the small span of muscle between the base of his balls and his anus. He rubbed circles and put pressure on that delicious spot, bringing very satisfied wiggles from the boy between him and Yahiko's heated bodies.

Yahiko's fingers made their way to Sasuke's back pockets and touched him through the fabric. A small mewl escaped Sasuke's lips as Yahiko grazed over a particularly sensitive spot around the bottom of his ass cheeks.

Hearing Sasuke's moan was all they need. Yahiko backed off first, then Nagato backed off, leaving a very flushed and aroused and confused Sasuke falling into a heap on the floor in between the two tall men.

"You will come to us in due time," Yahiko straightened his clothes and took out a lighter from his back pocket. "Nagato is not really into the whole rape thing, if that was what you thought was going to happen." His arm reached over to light the cigarette between Nagato's lips.

Nagato shrugged as he puffed out a cloud of smoke. "Whatevs."

"Nagato there, would much prefer to have you come to us in your own accord." Yahiko too had a cigarette in his mouth.

Nagato drew closer to him and touched the bud of his cigarette with his; Yahiko sucked in air to light his own, looking deeply into Nagato's eyes. It was an act best described as a metaphor for sex.

"And you will know where to find us, boy… Wait, what's your name again?"

Sasuke told them and Nagato breathed his name between his lips. The two walked away from Sasuke without so much as batting an eyelash on his sunken form in the snow. Nagato simply shrugged again before putting a strong arm around Yahiko's shoulder, pulling the man closer to his body as they walked down the alley in a cloud of smoke.

A pang of jealousy rose from his chest. Sasuke wanted that comfort as well. He wanted Naruto's arm to pull him into his own to hold him while they walk down the street. He felt his eyes began to moisten again and shook away the tears. As he was getting up, something fell from his back pocket and onto the ground.

It was a small bag of some sort. He picked it up to examine its content. It was no mistake that it was the blue ice-like substance, that _meth _that they were doing last time. It was but a small amount, but inside the bag was something else, a string of numbers jot loosely on a scrap piece of paper. A phone number. Yahiko had probably put it there while he was feeling Sasuke up.

Sasuke ran his finger over the number and bit his lip, feeling his groin reacting to the memory of their touches as he took a deep breath to calm the nerves in his body. _What's the harm?_ He could always say no, and they were not looking to force him.

He shoved the small bag back into his pocket and ran down the street.

He will keep this for now.

* * *

**_To be continued…_**

* * *

**A/N:** OH.. so HAHAHA, don't kill me! It's a drama, but I promise this is a SasuNaru. PLEASE wait for how it will develop, ok?

ALSO, I had majorly edited "Bless The Hero", my other pet fic (a smaller pet). The first chapter has been rewritten in many parts, and I had added back the 4000 words of lemon in chapter 2. Graphic hetero stuff warning: Sasuke will be raped by, her majesty, the Mizukage. And it contains SasuNaru Shounen-ai in later chapters.


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